


Another Day in the Office

by FMPtrumpets



Category: NCIS
Genre: Gen, Papa Bear Jethro Gibbs, Tony-centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-12 11:07:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 24,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28759305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FMPtrumpets/pseuds/FMPtrumpets
Summary: All the times when Tony wasn't acting like himself, or was hurt. And, of course, Gibbs is always there
Relationships: Anthony DiNozzo & Jethro Gibbs & Timothy McGee, Jethro Gibbs & Abby Sciuto
Comments: 6
Kudos: 57





	1. Never Leave a Man Behind

**Author's Note:**

> Tag to 'Dead Air'  
> ~radio~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tag to 'Radio Silence'  
>  _Radio_

Abby was sitting in front of her computer, biting her lip and trying to decide what to do.

On the one hand, this was serious and Gibbs needed to know. Like, right now. On the other, the team was busy chasing a domestic terrorist cell right now, before they blew up something or somebody important, and the last thing they needed was a distraction from their jobs.

So, did she tell him now, and risk him being distracted and somebody getting hurt... or tell him later, after the terrorists were caught and there was no more danger of distraction-induced injury. Telling him later would probably make him mad at her though. She didn't like it when he was mad at her!

Not that it happened much, but still...

"Hey, Abbs. What ya got?" Gibbs called when he walked in her lab, CafPow in hand.

"Gibbs! I will learn your secret one of these days." She narrowed her eyes at him after a moment of being startled. He only twitched his lips in a small smile before asking again. "Ok, I managed to match one of the voices to the one that called Gator. Voice number eleven, Arthur Hascal." And she obediently went through what she'd found on the current main suspect.

As he left, she decided to wait until the case was solved, and the terrorists were caught before telling him. It wasn't like she wasn't still having a hard time believing it, anyway. She knew that they didn't have the most respect for him as their direct superior, but to do this... She never would have thought them capable. She thought that they at least respected him as a friend and fellow agent. Didn't they know just what it was that Tony did for everybody? Just because she was going to wait, though, didn't mean she couldn't have another team keeping an eye on Tony whenever he left with one of those two. She was pretty sure Balboa's team was on cold cases right now, they had time to spare. He would be happy to have Tony's back, especially since Tony always had his.

~ADinO~

"Abbs. What's up? Did you find something else about MAH?" It wouldn't be the first time that they thought a case was closed, only for her to find some new evidence after the fact linking their suspect(s) with something bigger. Usually when something like that happened, they ended up passing it on to the director. Sometimes he passed the new information on to Homeland Security, or somebody else who could actually make use of it.

Once in a while, there was nothing that could be done about it at that time, and they ended up taking care of it themselves at a later date, anyway.

However, normally when she found something like that out, she mentioned it to the whole team, she didn't usually call him down to her lab after everyone else was already gone for the night.

He hated cases where terrorism was involved... so. Much. PAPERWORK.

Well, that and the fact that you could never seem to get all of them, they were like rats. Just when you think you have them all, ten more appear.

"Um, not MAH."

"Alright, then what?" He was a little annoyed now, he wanted to go home and find his couch. Whether he actually slept on it or not, now that was a different story.

"Ok, now, I would have said something earlier, but you were chasing terrorists, and I didn't want to distract you. That, and I was having a hard time figuring out what I heard, I just couldn't believe it. That they would do something like... I mean, what if something happened, and Tony got hurt!" She went on a little rant, leaving a very confused, and worried Agent Gibbs to try and make sense of what she was saying.

"Abby. Abby!" He finally yelled, grabbing her by the shoulders. She stopped, startled. "Who did what, and how did it put DiNozzo in danger." He pulled her focus back. Was this why he spotted Jack from Balboa's team discreetly following his team for the last few days?

"Right, ok, so, when I set up the mics for the recording, I set up all of them to record. Not just Tony's. Because, what if somebody stopped at the car and started talking to McGee and Ziva, you know? And, well... you're going to have to hear it for yourself." She turned around and pressed a few keys on her keyboard, before hesitantly pushing play, about an hour into the recordings.

_Through the recording, they could hear an echo of Tony's conversations with the neighbors, coming in from the radio._

_"Ugh, how much more of this do we have to listen to?" McGee asked. There was a small grunt of agreement from Ziva._

_After a few more moments of talking on Tony's end, while he tried to get the community members to talk to him, there was an annoyed huff, and then the echo on the recordings, coming in from their comm with Tony, went quiet._

_"Ah, peace and quiet." Ziva said, with a satisfied sigh._

_"Should have done that a little while ago." McGee muttered._

Gibbs' face was full of shock and disbelief. Did they just turn their radio off? On the other recording, Tony was still talking, he made the occasional comment towards his teammates about one of the community residents he saw. On one occasion, he saw a food truck stop by the corner and asked his teammates if they wanted him to stop and bring them something to eat, telling them to text him with their orders if they did. After a few minutes of waiting, Tony said that he was hungry, even if they weren't, and he was getting food before he continued.

Comments that his teammates weren't hearing.

If he'd gotten into trouble... Tony was a smooth talker, but even he couldn't talk himself out of everything.

_"It's amazing how a person can talk so much. Just how much does he like listening to his own voice?" McGee asked her after a while, there was some shuffling, then the crackle of paper came over the mic before the sounds of pages being turned came in from the background._

_"I know. I mean, don't get me wrong, he is a great investigator, and a good agent. But if he would just talk less." Ziva exclaimed._

_A snort. "Tell me about it." More page turning._

After a few minutes of listening, where she watched as Gibbs' face got darker and darker with rage, she stopped it and skipped to the end.

_There was the sound of a door opening and closing, followed by panting, it sounded to Gibbs like DiNozzo. And it wasn't coming from the car radio, it was coming from DiNozzo's microphone._

_"What happened to you?" That was McGee again._

__

_"Don't play dumb, you've been hearing everything, and reveling in my suffering." DiNozzo snapped back, out of breath from the running that Gibbs and Abby had heard him doing in his recording._

(Gibbs was concerned that he sounded so winded, he was very fit, he ran as much as possible if he had the chance, he even competed in the occasional marathon if they weren't busy with a case. His lungs weren't acting up again were they? Ziva and McGee didn't know it, but he never quite recovered from the plague, and now carried an inhaler because of it. He'd barely passed his health physical and field requirements in order to stay employed at NCIS after getting out of the hospital, let alone to remain a field agent. In fact, Ducky had seriously considered calling Dr. Pitt to check on him considering the problems he was having with his voice.)

_"No, actually, we haven't been listening for the last couple of hours." McGee said uncaringly, and they heard a page being turned._

_One could only listen to your voice for so long. Did you talk to everyone?" Ziva replied dryly._

__

_There was a moment's pause before DiNozzo answered that yes, he had talked to everyone, and then asked for a drink._

"Alright, that's enough." Gibbs finally gritted out. He was well aware of the problems Tony had had with his voice for the rest of the case. (It had made for an interesting attempt at questioning the suspect, that was for sure.)

He didn't care about that, though. No, what he cared about, was that DiNozzo lost his voice, doing his job and questioning suspects. He'd had to use his inhaler, even. And he hated using it, he avoided it as much as he could. In fact, he would happily burn the thing if he didn't know that he would be sorry to need it, and no longer have it.

All the while, those two were sitting in a car, reading magazines, and not doing their jobs.

Their job was simple, be there as back-up in case somebody made Tony. If something like that happened... they never would have known until it was too late to help.

He glared at the screen for another moment, then reached out to grab a flashdrive from the drawer beside the computer and handed it to Abby, who wordlessly copied the files and handed it back. Without another word, he stormed out of the lab, and went straight to his desk (after a detour to the break room, where he pulled his coffee out of his hiding place, he wasn't drinking that break room crap).

He wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight.

~ADinO~

At eight in the morning, roughly a half hour before the team usually came in for the day (on days they didn't already have a case), Gibbs stood in the middle of the bullpen, coffee in one hand and folders in the other.

(It was at times like this, when he needed to do something over Vance's head, that he was glad for his status within the agency. What most didn't realize, was that he was the third in command of NCIS.* When the Director or his Deputy weren't available (which seemed to be all the time), he was in charge. It gave him quite a bit of leeway sometimes. Even if he absolutely hated having to be in charge (the paperwork!) when the Director was away at conferences or various other meetings. (Which is exactly why he turned down the promotion and stayed as the leader of the MCRT when Jenny died and Vance was promoted, which meant they needed a new Deputy Director).)

Sitting on the floor by his feet, were two boxes, each full of McGee and Ziva's personal belongings.

The other agents that were walking by, merely blinked before hurrying their pace to get out of the way. They didn't know what was going on, or what the two MCRT agents had done, but they did not want to be in the same room as Gibbs when it all blew up. Or, at the very least, safely behind their desks. Only Balboa's team stayed nearby, they were the only ones that knew what the other two had done.

When the team finally came in, all at the same time for once instead of trickling in like usual (he was surprised and concerned Tony was coming in right on time, and not already there. He was usually at least a half hour early, if he didn't end up sleeping behind his desk after staying late doing paperwork. The last case must have taken more out of him then he or Ducky realized), they stopped in shock once they saw their boss and where he was standing. All joking and bickering stopped.

"Boss?" Tony asked cautiously. He was the only one who was ever brave enough to talk to the Boss when he was in his moods. It didn't escape anyone's notice that Tony's was the only desk not packed up. "Is something wrong?" He slowly dropped his bag behind his desk, and then just stood there, glancing between his teammates and Gibbs warily.

In response, he pointed to Tony's desk, then motioned towards the plasma. "DiNozzo." Tony glanced at his desk and saw the flashdrive sitting on top of his keyboard. Glancing at his boss, he plugged it in and pressed a few keys to switch the file to the plasma from the computer. He knew that the Boss would have already had it in and up... if the Boss knew how to do it.

Ziva and McGee paled slightly when they heard what was being played, although mostly they were confused. Where did this come from, and why was Gibbs so angry? Yeah, they probably shouldn't have turned off the radio, but it wasn't like anything happened. The other agents nearby who were listening in, and pretending not to, were listening with wide eyes.

Once most of the talking on Ziva and McGee's end was over, Gibbs spoke again. "Skip to the last five minutes.

Tony glanced at his teammates and did as ordered. Whispers started flying around the floor when the other agents heard how uncaring the two sounded on the tape. Tony just sat there, he already knew they had turned him off, and was more hurt that they would do that than anything else. And, a little betrayed. He trusted them to be there if something happened, but if something had happened the other day... they wouldn't have been there. Although he was a little surprised that something was being done about it, and so publicly too.

Gibbs was a big supporter of not airing the teams dirty laundry for the whole agency to know about. If it happened within the team, then it stayed within the team, simple as that.

Once the audio was done playing, the room was dead silent. Even Director Vance, standing up top and leaning over the railing, was stunned silent.

"Rule number one, McGee?" Gibbs asked quietly.

"Don't screw over your partner." He didn't have to ask which rule number one he was talking about.

"Rule number fifteen, David?"

She flinched slightly, he only called her by her last name when he was very, very angry with her. "Always work as a team."

"What was that?" He asked next, pointing to the plasma.

There was silence while they looked at each other, slightly confused. When an answer finally came, it was Tony. "That was screwing over your partner, and not working with the whole team." He said quietly, sitting at his desk.

Gibbs just looked at him, and the look on his face let him know, he wasn't too happy with Tony at the moment either. But, he also wasn't angry to the point of packing his desk like he did with them. "Correct. Which leads me to another question, DiNozzo!" He barked.

"Yes, Boss?" Came the automatic response.

"Why didn't you say anything when you three got back from Royal Woods?" He demanded.

"Rule number one, Boss." Tony knew, that if Gibbs found out, they would be in serious trouble, how serious, well... he wasn't willing to find out. So, he didn't throw them under the bus. He also didn't really think that anything would really be done. Gibbs gave him another Look to let him know that the Boss knew he was holding back, and Tony knew that the Boss probably knew what it was, too.

"Now for a question of my own, what is department, no... what is the first rule and probably most important policy of law enforcement and military alike? But especially, of this agency." Vance asked, coming down from his spot, to stand on the stairs.

"Never leave a man behind." Gibbs muttered, almost too quietly for others to hear. The man was a Marine through and through.

"Always have backup nearby or otherwise in place. And an escape plan if needed." Tony added, thinking back to his numerous undercover ops over the years.

Vance nodded. "Always have backup, always back your partner up. Even in situations where it doesn't seem like it will be needed." He narrowed his eyes at two of his most promising agents.

"I think a stake out where we are searching for domestic terrorists counts as backup being needed." Gibbs said in a dangerously quiet voice. Ziva and McGee paled, they hadn't even considered that.

They just saw the nice neighborhood, and the friendly neighbors. The nice homes and the appearance of the area. They forgot to look at what they were doing there and let the peaceful atmosphere lull them into a false sense of security.

They looked at each other in horrified realization. What had been a harmless little joke, petty perhaps, but a joke nonetheless, had been a huge mistake.

One that could have gotten Tony seriously injured or killed. And they wouldn't have even known something was wrong until it was too late.

"We have no excuse, other than that we weren't thinking." Ziva said quietly, face red. She was ashamed, and feeling quite humiliated to be having this dressing down in the middle of the squad room, with most of the field agents assigned to the Navy Yard present.

"Ya think, David?" Gibbs asked sarcastically.

"Does that mean what it looks like?" McGee asked after a moment of silence. He gestured towards the boxes at his bosses feet.

"Don't know, what do you think it means?" Gibbs asked, tilting his head to the side.

"That we're either fired, or reassigned somewhere else." Ziva answered.

Gibbs only response was to hand over the folders in his hand. Ziva and McGee glanced at each other before cautiously opening them.

"Three week unpaid suspension? Followed by three months mandatory FLETC training." Ziva summarized after examining the papers inside. Tony didn't know whether to be relieved that they weren't going to lose their jobs over this, or disappointed in Gibbs that that was it (they were both strong assets to the agency, so he would give them one more chance, no matter how much he prefer just kicking them to the curb here and now. If, at the end of this period, they hadn't shaped up, then they would be gone. Of course, they would also need to find somebody willing to even work with them at all, they would not be coming back to his team, that was for certain).

"Job status to be determined upon completion of training, depending on what the instructors report. Final decision will be up to myself, Leon, and Tony. All three of us will have to agree." Gibbs finished, explaining the part that wasn't in the folders. Tony blinked, that was actually a pretty good decision... "Let me be clear right now, the only reason I'm not taking your badges right now is because Tony was lucky, and nothing happened." He pierced them with his stare, and was only a little satisfied when they fidgeted.

It was then that his phone rang, and he answered with an annoyed, "Gibbs." After a moment, he hung up and sighed. "DiNozzo, grab your gear. Dead Petty Officer." He grabbed his gun and badge out of his desk and headed for the elevator without another word, leaving Tony to scramble after him, grabbing his bag along the way. He never even got a chance to put his own gun and badge in his desk drawer.

"I want to see you two in my office, five minutes. That should be plenty of time to take your personal items down to your cars." Vance said, and went back upstairs after gesturing over Balboa and his team to escort them around. He would have to have a conversation with Gibbs about their punishment at a later time, right now he needed to have a little chat with the two, and secure their badge and gun in his own desk. He would hold onto them until the final decision was made in roughly four months time.

He thought better than this of these two, he couldn't believe they just left their partner to hang like that.

~ADinO~

In the truck, it was silent for most of the trip while the agents thought about what just happened.

"You didn't say anything, because you didn't think anything would be done about it." Gibbs said, finally breaking the silence. "Because, after all these years, you still don't see yourself as worth it. What is rule five?" He asked suddenly.

"You don't waste good." Tony answered promptly. "McGee and Ziva are pretty good, though." He finished.

"Eh, they are good. That's true. After that display, they can go be good somewhere else." Gibbs said, there was a note of finality in his voice, and Tony got the hint to not argue the point. Instead he let himself enjoy the comfortable silence and warmth in his chest.

When they arrived at the crime scene twenty minutes later, in silence, it was to find that the one to call it in to the Navy Yard had left out a few very important details.

It wasn't just one dead officer. It was five.

One of them was an Admiral. Another was a foreign liaison.

Tony and Gibbs just looked at each other, they both wanted this day to end already.

This was going to be a long week...

~ADinO~

Four months later...

"DiNozzo, conference room." Was all Gibbs said when he looked up and saw Vance on the railing above them. Was it really that time? He hadn't expected them until later.

It had been easy enough to slip back into the routine of it just being the two of them, despite the fact it hadn't been just the two of them for roughly six years now, not since he practically forced Kate to join his team and completely railroaded Director Morrow into letting her join the top team, despite her inexperience as an investigator.

During the four months, Tony had stayed in touch with Ziva and McGee. They'd even gone out to lunch a few times when they all had a chance. Somehow, their friendship had deepened since the incident with the radios. Once Tony had gotten over the hurt and betrayal, anyway. They had been angry at first, once the shock of everything wore off, but they eventually got over it once they had more of a chance to think.

Ziva had spent her few weeks on suspension in Israel. Her father had not been impressed when he heard about what happened, and he made sure to set her attitude straight when he noticed she was angry about being punished. Most of her time back in her home country was spent training and going through lectures as a result. McGee's lectures actually came from his grandmother, despite her dislike of anything government related. Being on a stake-out was no time to be playing 'practical jokes' on your partner, especially when it involved cutting off his only form of communication with his back-up.

When they went back to FLETC, they kept their heads down and did what the instructors said, although they did volunteer to hold a brief seminar regarding teamwork. The other trainees... well, lets just say Ziva and McGee stayed together and didn't really get close to any of them. The NCIS grapevine made sure that even the trainees heard what had happened, and knew exactly why two of the top field agents were there.

Tony glanced up at the catwalk, and followed along after his boss dutifully with a sigh. He honestly wasn't looking forward to deciding the fates of two of his friends.

When they walked into the conference room, McGee and Ziva were already sitting there, waiting for them. The Director was getting himself something to drink, and Agent Quinn from FLETC was sitting there as well.

"Quinn, what are you doing here?" Gibbs asked, not having expected her.  
"I was their main training officer this time around." She answered, waving a hand dismissively. "I wanted to be here to clarify anything in my reports." That, and she just wanted to get away from the trainees for a little while. One of them, especially... "And, how long until you finally accept one of the Probies I send your way?"

Gibbs gave a half-smirk. "When you send one that fits with the team." Tony went to get himself some water in an effort to hide his own smirk from the Boss.

Honestly, one would think that Quinn would know by now that Gibbs was very, very picky about the people he worked with. The longest lasting Probie she sent them only lasted two weeks. A full week longer than the others she sent him.  
Besides, despite her efforts for a little over a year, Gibbs still ended up building his own team, first with strong-arming Kate onto the team, and then letting McGee stick around and finally just approving his transfer to the Navy Yard from Norfolk. Ziva was the only person Gibbs ever had on his team that he did not handpick.

Gibbs, though, knew that Tony would be smirking, and lightly head-slapped him when he went to sit down. Tony just grinned innocently at him, knowing what the strength behind his head-slaps meant by now. This was just a small warning for appearances to behave.

"Alright." Leon said, shaking his head fondly at the by-play between two of his most trusted agents. Even if he didn't really like Tony DiNozzo, and took a while to warm up to him. He still hadn't fully warmed up to him. He found him rude and disrespectful, and far too laid-back for this kind of work.

However.

His file was quite impressive for his age. He was highly educated, highly skilled, he was good at his job, and...

Anybody who can successfully deal with working under Leroy Jethro Gibbs for as long as he had, and still be relatively sane and not burned out, had his respect.

The man was well known to have retired several agents who weren't anywhere close to retiring, as well as giving one of his previous SFA's before DiNozzo a stress-induced ulcer. He was very difficult to work with, and notorious for it.

"Let's get started. We all know why we are here?" He checked. He doubted any of them would have forgotten, but it never hurt to make sure.

There was a chorus of 'yes, sir's' from around the table. Three of the voices were slightly more nervous and subdued than the others. Tony was more subdued than anything, he didn't want to risk the close friendship formed after the Incident.

"Alright, I've reviewed the reports from the training instructors, and I am very pleased with what they have to say. Your volunteer seminar was certainly a point in your favor." Vance said, looking at the two of them and nodding his head. "Agent Quinn, do you have anything to add?" He asked.

She shook her head with her lips pursed. "No, they were model students, kept their heads down and completed their work well. If they were green recruits, they honestly would have been the next Probies I sent Gibbs way." She shrugged.

"DiNozzo, Gibbs? Your opinions?" Vance asked his two best field agents, who were glancing over the files right then.

"I think they've learned their lesson." Tony said quietly after a moment, relieved. The reports from FLETC looked good, and they'd had many talks over the last few months, he believed they should have a second chance. He ignored the fact that things could have gone so much worse for him, and chose to focus on the part where it didn't.

Gibbs nodded in agreement with him, "But they're not coming back to my team." He raised an eyebrow. Vance nodded his understanding and turned to McGee and David.

"Well?"

They merely looked at each other.

"We made a mistake, and we know we did. All we can do is apologize again. Hopefully, the trainees take what we said in our seminar to heart, and they don't make the same mistakes." Ziva said quietly. Her father had also forced her to give a similar lecture to Mossad trainees while she was in Israel.

Vance nodded in approval. "Now, Agent McGee, you are medically exempt from being assigned as Agent Afloat on account of your extreme sea-sickness. Agent David, you are not. However, I think being Agent Afloat would be a waste of your skill set." Both of them almost sagged in relief at hearing they weren't being reassigned to Agent Afloat.

They didn't want to be the sole cop on a floating city, population of several hundred to a couple of thousand. That was the last thing they wanted. To hear that Agent Afloat was the first option the Director had thought of...

Ziva, however, recognized the subtle threat for what it was. One more screw-up, and she would be lucky if she was assigned Agent Afloat, if not outright fired.

"However, I was having some difficulties in finding anybody else willing to work with you. Of course, I could just make it an order, but a field agent has to be able to trust the ones around them, and I can't order them to do that. So, for the time being, you two are going to work cold cases. It is my understanding that nobody else was assigned to those since Chris Pacci died and everybody else has just been picking up a few of them in their spare time. Well, now that is your sole duty. Agent David, you may be pulled away from cold cases as needed to run a few... assignments for us." He leaned back to watch their reactions to hearing their new assignment.

Ziva and McGee made a face. Cold cases? They hated it when there was a lull and they had to work cold cases in between doing paperwork. Those were the worst weeks... they didn't say anything, though. They nodded, accepting their assignments gracefully.

Vance nodded, satisfied. "I don't think I have to remind you, Agent McGee, what happened to Agent Pacci, I trust you two will have each others backs, even though the cases are stone cold and seem harmless." He raised an eyebrow, knowing they would get the reference to Royal Woods. The place had seemed harmless, and it was harboring a group that tried to bomb an after party cook-out after a girls softball game. Most of them were parents themselves, which was probably why not all of them were even in on that particular part of the plan, but still.

"Yes, sir. I won't let anything happen to us if I can help it." Ziva said, determined. She didn't know Chris Pacci, didn't know anything about him. She'd never even heard his name before, but clearly something bad had happened to him if everyone else's reactions were anything to go by.

Vance gave them both a long look, then nodded as he liked what he found. "You two can go home for the day, and come back tomorrow, ready to get back to work. I'll have somebody show you to your new desks before you leave." He hesitated. "Let me know if the pranks and hazing start to go too far." He advised. They all knew it was going to happen, federal agents could be so petty and childish sometimes, but he also didn't want them to get hurt because somebody took it too far, which was entirely possible.

Ziva and Tim looked at each other, not sure if they wanted to bother the Director with it if it did get too far.

Any pranks or hazing that happened, would be completely deserved, after all.


	2. A Good Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tag to 'Hung out to Dry'  
> What could have happened between Tony being pushed, and going home for the night

As soon as he landed, Gibbs stripped out of and dropped all his gear and ran towards where he'd seen DiNozzo land. All he could do was hope that Tony's brief lesson the other day had been enough.

"DiNozzo!" He finally reached him and reached out to roll him over. His neck and limbs looked like they were all facing the right directions, mostly. He might be limping pretty badly for a few days, though.

Tony groaned lightly when he was moved. "Ow."

Gibbs sighed in relief and sat back on his heels. "How was the landing? Did you at least land on your feet?" He teased lightly now that he knew the other man would live.  
Tony took a moment to answer. "Yeah... mostly." He grunted. "My knee gave out on me, though, and then I think I twisted it when I fell over." He grimaced, stupid sports injuries. He didn't mention that he landed pretty hard on his wrist when his knee refused to support his weight. It didn't feel broken, though, luckily.

"You wanna take a few days off?" Gibbs asked. The guy did just get pushed out of a plane while trying to read somebody his rights... he figured he might as well be nice this once. He was going to make Tony see Ducky for it, anyway, and Ducky would most likely have him placed on medical leave.

Tony glanced at Gibbs incredulously. "Who are you, and what have you done with Gibbs?" He muttered sarcastically. "Only if Ducky says I should." He hated having to take time off, he never knew what to do with himself when he had time on his hands. Well, he supposed that he could get a few cases done that Metro asked him to consult on occasionally. He was a detective before going over to the 'dark side', after all, and they knew that. And he did have that stack of missions the Director asked him to look over to see if an undercover was possible or advisable.

Gibbs hummed. "You good to stand up?" He asked. Tony was going to be sore soon enough, the sooner he got moving, the less stiff his muscles would get, and the less sore he would end up being. He would probably need help walking, though, no need to make that knee any worse before Ducky could look at it.

Tony did a quick mental run through of his body condition and how much his head hurt before nodding and reaching out a hand for his boss to grab and use to haul him up. As soon as they were up, Gibbs helped him unclip his gear while helping him stay upright, his knee wasn't cooperating. By this time, the rest of the Marines who had been in the plane with them finally caught up, and the drop zone pick-up truck had pulled up with the on-site medics. They had to be around during training exercises, training accidents did happen, after all.

Medics weren't always available out in the field, but that didn't mean they had to do without when they were safe at home.

"Sir! Are you alright?" One of the Marines called, feeling bad that they'd accidentally pushed the agent out of the plane. Well, at least he still had the sense of mind to pull his chute, although they all felt he pulled it a little early... Tony merely offered a thumbs up and a grin. The medic didn't say much, merely dropped to his knees to start poking and prodding Tony's, the way he was standing let the man know that something was wrong with it. The Marines had already filled them in on the fact that the NCIS agent had been pushed out of the plane accidentally, and they weren't sure if he was certified to be parachuting out of a military aircraft.

"Old sports injury. Didn't like the landing." Tony explained briefly. The man looked up and nodded while the other medic started shining a light in Tony's eyes.

"Well, you're already standing, that's a good sign. Do you have any dizziness, headache, nausea?" The second medic asked, and Tony shook his head.

"No, just going to be really stiff and sore soon, I think." Tony answered. Gibbs was silent beside him, keeping a hand on his elbow to help him balance without putting weight on his bad knee.

As soon as he'd seen Tony deploy his chute, he'd helped the CO restore order and placed their man under arrest before jumping himself with five Marines behind him. The rest of the Marines had stayed on the plane to guard their new prisoner, while the rest of them went to find Tony and make sure he landed alright, and to inform the medics at the landing point. It would take a bit of doing to maneuver themselves where they needed to land, since they missed the target, but they somehow managed to get close enough, and they'd kept on eye on Tony's chute the whole way down as well. Gibbs heart had stopped for a second when he saw Tony land hard, and then crumble and not move.

"Your knee is already looking pretty swollen, but I think you just twisted the joint." Medic One said, reaching into his kit for an ice-pack, a knee brace, and something to wrap around Tony's leg to keep the pack in place. "What kind of sports injury was it?" He asked.

"Shattered and reconstructed knee cap, college basketball. Ruined my chances of going pro in football." Both medics looked up in surprise.

"You passed your NCIS physicals and evals with a knee like that?" Medic Two asked.

Tony shrugged. "I had a very good surgeon." That, and he actually had to chase down a surprisingly small amount of suspects, and when he did he usually ended the chase pretty quickly, as opposed to playing a long game of basketball or football. He could still play the occasional game with some buddies, but that was laid back. A pro game?   
Forget it.

"Huh, well, I'm placing you on medical leave, and recommending that you see your regular doctor for a more thorough exam. Otherwise, you look like you landed pretty well..." Medic One's gaze suddenly honed in on Tony's wrist and he frowned before gently grabbing his arm and feeling it. "Hmm, I think you neglected to mention something." He muttered, and reached into his kit for a second ice-pack and a brace.

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs snapped, irritated. He hated it when the younger man tried to hide injuries. Tony cringed.

"Sorry, boss." He muttered, almost petulantly. While the medics worked on checking Tony, the Marines had gathered all the discarded gear the two NCIS agents had used.  
"Alright, I think that's it. I don't think you will need to go to the hospital, your vitals look good, as long as you see your doctor first thing." The medics said sternly, and Tony grimaced before Gibbs hand landed threateningly on the back of his head. Not a slap, but a warning placement.

"He will be seeing Ducky." Gibbs growled, not happy Tony had tried to hide his wrist. The medics looked confused about who 'Ducky' was, but let it go, assuming (correctly) that this person was some kind of medical professional.

Tony winced at the tone, and mumbled out a 'yes, boss.' Gibbs rolled his eyes and kept a hand on his arm, supporting some of Tony's weight while they moved towards the truck to go back to base, where they would pick up the car and their new prisoners before heading back to Headquarters, the plane should have landed before they got there. The Marines had already hopped in the back, and several hands reached down to help Tony do the same, while Gibbs had absolutely no problem jumping up to sit on the edge with his feet dangling.

Now that the Marines knew he was alright, they could tease a little bit. "So, how was it, sir?" One of them asked, a small smirk on his face.

"Ah... it was alright. Would have been better if it was planned, but..." Tony shrugged with a small grin on his face.

"You planning on ever going again?" Another asked, and Tony actually gave it some thought. After the initial terror of being shoved out of an airplane, he had actually enjoyed himself. The view had been amazing, and the chance to be on his own without anything or anyone wanting his attention had been nice, too. Of course, the landing had been less than perfect...

"After some actual classes or whatever, yeah. I think I might." He finally said with a decisive nod. Gibbs smirked and shook his head. If Tony was going to actually learn how to 'chute properly, then he was going to make sure Ducky was on hand at the landing zone, just in case Tony's knee decided not to cooperate with the landing again.  
Back at the base, they left the Marines to the dressing down from their CO (for starting a fight on an airplane, near an open hatch, and shoving an untrained NCIS agent out of said hatch) to take their prisoner back with them.

"This was a good day, boss. I mean, I'm not thrilled with all the paperwork waiting for us, but it was a good day." Tony hummed, looking out the window while Gibbs drove, carefully this time.

Gibbs only hummed his agreement.


	3. Out the Back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tag to 'Yankee White'. I can't have been the only one mad that Gibbs didn't do anything about Tony being tossed out of a van, trapped in a body bag, into the middle of the road, can I?

Agent Axlerod followed Tony into the bullpen, almost nervous. Gibbs frowned when he looked up and saw Tony limping, and contact burns on skin that was visible.

"What happened?" He asked, standing up and watching Tony in worry.

"What happened, is those FBI goons decided to throw him out of the van, in heavy traffic, before just taking off. They were in the middle lanes, and didn't even bother to take him out of the bag. Which, might I remind you, is black, and it is very dark out there!" Axlerod ranted a bit, not happy about how one of their own had been treated. He supposed they could count themselves lucky they stopped the van before dumping him.

"WHAT!?" Gibbs demanded, and everybody looked up from their work, alarmed. A few reached for either their guns or their phones. They were ready to either call security, or restrain Gibbs. "Where were you?" He demanded of Axlerod.

"I was following them, several cars back. That's not the point, though. They didn't know I was following to pick him up. He could have been run over!"

Gibbs shot Tony a look before picking up the phone and calling Ducky. Once Ducky was there and looking Tony over, he barged his way into the Director's office.

Morrow looked up, startled. He was also cursing his luck, he was currently on the phone with the Director of the FBI, who was not happy about NCIS 'stealing' the body from them. "Gibbs, can it wait?" He asked quietly, putting his hand over the mouthpiece.

"No, it can't. I want to talk to you about two FBI agents throwing my agent out of the back of a vehicle, in the middle of the Beltway, into heavy, oncoming traffic, while trapped in a body bag. A black body bag, in the dark." He leaned over the desk, and Morrow mentally gulped.

Gibbs was in full papa-bear mode right now, there would be no stopping him. Instead, he put the phone on speaker and said, "Did you catch that, Rob?" His voice was tight, making his displeasure known. Gibbs jerked back, and then looked at the phone like it personally offended him.

There was silence on the other end. "My agents didn't say anything about that, I will speak with them, and get back to you."

"No you won't!" Gibbs burst out. He knew full well that those two weren't going to see any kind of disciplinary action for putting Tony in danger. At most, when he had Tony hide in the body bag, he'd thought that they would drop him off at the side of the road, not throw him out the back into traffic. "If I have anything to say about it, charges will be filed." He shot Morrow a warning look, who merely nodded.

There was silence on the other end of the line. "I will deal with it." Then the phone clicked and was silent.

Morrow snorted and pressed the button to take it off speaker and clear the line. "Yeah, right." He muttered. "I will get everything started on bringing those FBI agents up on charges. And I'll make sure they stick, somehow. Or that some kind of proper disciplinary action is taken. You go focus on who is trying to kill the president, or if it was even an attack on him." Morrow ordered, and Gibbs obeyed.

He wasn't at all happy about it, but he obeyed.

~ADitO~

When he got down, Ducky was still there, and promptly announced, "Some minor 'road rash' type burns from the body bag and a few scrapes, a lot of bruising, and a very mild concussion. He'll be sore before too long, but there doesn't appear to be any real damage. No broken, fractured, or cracked bones, or lacerations. I do, however, suggest that he stay the night with someone. For the concussion, you understand. Just to be on the safe side."

Gibbs grunted and eyed Tony, who was looking resigned. Gibbs hadn't let him stay over at his house since the incident with Blackadder a year ago, and he didn't even know where Ducky lived. The older man refused to tell anyone, he wasn't even sure if Gibbs knew where Ducky lived! If he wouldn't even tell them, there was no way he would let him stay the night, even if it was on his own recommendation. He had no one to stay with, he was friendly with everyone, but...

"We'll stop by your apartment on the way to my house." Gibbs finally said, to Tony's shock.

"Are you sure, Boss? I don't want to be in your way..." Tony said, hesitant.

"Yeah, your room is still set up from the last time you stayed over." Gibbs shrugged, being nonchalant about this kind of thing was always the best approach to getting Tony to agree to it with minimal fuss. If you made a big deal out of it, then Tony was just more likely to put up a fight on the grounds of 'getting in the way' or 'not wanting to put anyone out'. Sometimes, Gibbs really wanted to meet every partner or 'friend' of Tony's who ever failed him or turned him down for exactly those reasons. He was well aware that he could probably count himself as part of that list as of the past year.

Ducky nodded in satisfaction. "I will be down in autopsy, I have an autopsy to perform and answers to find." He informed the two, and promptly left.

"I will start digging up this guys life, Boss." Tony said, and Gibbs nodded before sitting down so he could start going over what they already had, and got started on the paperwork for this case. It was easier if he tried to do it as they went along, or tried to do as much of it as he could preemptively. As Tony always said, 'work smarter, not harder', after all.

When Tobias Fornell showed up later to harass about the case, he happily watched him and his companion be escorted to Holding on charges of battery. As far as he was concerned, Legal was trying to bump it up to assault of a Federal Agent.

Tobias shot him a dirty look, but didn't resist. He knew he'd really screwed it up with Gibbs this time.


	4. Suits

Gibbs frowned when he saw Tony walk into work wearing a suit.

There was one thing that Tony had made clear early on when he came to work for NCIS, and that was this- Anthony DiNozzo Jr. did not wear suits unless he absolutely had to. In the almost two years Tony had worked with him, he had come to understand a bit more.

Tony only really wore suits if he was uncomfortable with something (or his undercover assignment demanded it) or someone. If he didn't want to let his guard down with somebody.

HR had thrown a fit trying to get him to dress along the 'dress-code' guidelines. Which was, to put it simply, professional attire (or rather, HR's idea of professional attire, which was not exactly practical when chasing suspects). Tony hated dressing up professionally. (He could, the man was like a chameleon sometimes, able to change his 'colors' to fit any situation or environment.) Eventually, Gibbs had had to step in and more or less blackmail HR into leaving Tony alone, much like Abby had done with them when she first started working there and they started giving her grief over her own unique style.

The fact remained, that he tended to use clothes as a shield. If he was dressing appropriately to work, then he wasn't comfortable with something about NCIS anymore, and the only thing he could think of that had changed recently was... Kate.

His eyes widened and he was shocked when he saw Tony start to peck at the keyboard, typing worse than Gibbs on a bad day, like he'd never used one before. The mans career was law enforcement, they didn't have the luxury of peck-typing when they needed information yesterday in order to catch a criminal.

Tony was the technical one of the two of them. Within the first week of working with Gibbs and experiencing his lack of technology skills, Tony had gone back to school (on NCIS's dime, of course) to get a degree in computers (a bachelors in computer science, and he was working on another one at the moment for something else). He'd never find himself working down in Cyber-crimes, of course, but he could work computers. So, why was he pretending otherwise?

That answer, too, was simple.

Kate.

He stopped displaying that brilliant mind that Gibbs knew was there when in public. Instead, he became the class clown and Gibbs started having to deliver head-slaps to get him back on track at least three times a week instead of the maybe once a month they used to be needed. The Tony that he knew, respected, and considered a good friend was the only version he saw when it was just the two of them, and he toned down the clown act with others that knew him nearby, but as soon as Kate was nearby, back to the clown act.

Why was he so uncomfortable around Kate?

It was Tony who'd said she would be a good addition to the team, with some training in investigation. Had he brought her in too soon, or had she said something to throw Tony's walls up? Should he have slowed down and made her do some work here and there with other teams, or sent her through some other FLETC courses first?

He resolved to keep an eye on things, and see if Tony didn't relax with time.

~ADinO~

His efforts to keep an eye on things were put on hold when, two weeks later, Tony was handed a message from some official-looking suits (probably SecNav) and left with nothing but a nod in his bosses direction.

He leaned back with a frown. He wouldn't be seeing Tony for a while, and when he came back he would need a few days to recuperate and find himself again, he might even be on medical leave for a bit when he came back. He didn't like it when Tony went on undercover assignments for other people, but his skills were highly in demand. The man was regarded as one of the best undercover operatives in the world, if he were an animal, it would be a chameleon for sure, even if everybody often referred to him as Gibbs 'loyal St. Bernard'.

"Hey, where's Tony?" Kate asked, coming back from the lunch run. She handed Gibbs his food and set Tony's on his desk before going to sit down. Gibbs sniffed at his food experimentally. One never knew what Kate was going to bring back when it was her turn to go for lunch, Tony and Gibbs already knew that her health food crazes changed almost daily.

"He left to take care of some business. He'll be out of the office for at least a few days." He figured the sooner she knew about it, the better. How many Probies had he kicked off his team because they annoyed him with their constant complaints and questions about Tony's random and unscheduled absences? He figured he was lucky that the various organizations and people that Tony sometimes worked with were at least courteous enough to not call him away during a case. So far, anyway.

"What business?" Kate asked, feeling nosy today.

Gibbs looked faintly irritated at the questions. "DiNozzo is a highly demanded undercover specialist, occasionally he's asked to assist somebody else in an operation. He's worked with FBI and CIA a few times." And, oh, the rants the Italian had treated him to about a CIA operative named Kort... "Actually, I think he's worked for the entire alphabet by now... Although, most of his assignments stay within NCIS, and the SecNav has asked for him specifically a few times, as well. So, yes. He will be gone for a few days, minimum."

He finally took a tentative bite of his food, and nodded in appreciation. She brought him real food this time, not the strange health stuff she seemed to like. He got up to see what she'd brought Tony, and found it to be the same as his, while it looked like she had her usual kind of meal. Since Tony wasn't around to eat it, he took it back to his own desk for later. "And when he does get back, he's going to need time to recenter himself. How much time depends on how long he's gone. So, I don't want to hear any teasing, or sniping, or whatever it is you two do. Try to keep it at a minimum." He warned. "And no bothering him with questions about the assignment. These things are usually classified for a reason." He didn't want to deal with the questions, only to constantly hear the same answer.

Once she wanted to know something, she never gave it up. It was something he liked about her as an agent on his team, and it was a good trait for an investigator, but in this case that trait was not needed.

She scoffed lightly. "I was in Secret Service, Gibbs. I know what classified means." She said, he merely stared at her with narrowed eyes. After a moment, she cleared her throat and quickly went back to her food.

Gibbs sighed then got up, leaving his food for now, to go make sure the Director knew Tony had been called away. While he was gone, he would either be assigned a TDA to fill the gap, or they would be put on cold cases barring an emergency that demanded their presence. Of course, if they were assigned cold cases and Tony was gone for more than a week, then they would be assigned a TDA anyway and put back on the roster. "Sir, Tony's been called away for an assignment." He announced without pause, barging in like he usually did. He knew the director wasn't in a meeting with anybody, if he was then his secretary would have tried harder to stop him from going in.

Morrow barely looked up. "Yes, I just received the email." He was annoyed. Why was it that they all thought they could get away with pulling his agents away from him and only informing him as an after-thought? Honestly!

Gibbs grimaced lightly. "Did they say what the operation was? And an estimated time-frame?" You could never give an exact date with undercover work. Idiots assigning deadlines, and pressuring the undercover to meet it, was what got most undercovers caught out and usually killed as a result. It was delicate work, one wrong move and you were dead, and most of the intel you gathered became useless, meaning your death wasn't even going to be worth anything in the end. It was not something that could be rushed, and unexpected surprises popped up all the time, things that usually caused delays in getting what you needed.

"The operation was classified, they didn't even let me know, which I will be speaking with somebody about," Morrow informed, very annoyed at the whole thing. "And they estimate that we will have DiNozzo back within two months."

"Two months?" Gibbs repeated incredulously, annoyed now. "Great." Tony was going to be a mess when he came back, he just knew it. "Radio silent?" He guessed. Morrow nodded, and he scowled. He wasn't even going to be able to get news on how Tony was doing at any point.

Wonderful, absolutely perfect.

"You will get a TDA, of course, and continue cases as normal. I think, though, that I'm going to assign Pacci to your team as SFA for now, to round it out to four and so you have somebody more experienced behind you than Todd and the TDA." Morrow said while he made a few notes to himself. TDA's were usually green(er) agents who were somewhat fresh out of FLETC, and hadn't received a permanent assignment yet, whether it be that there were no openings for them to fill at that time, or so they could have a chance to float around the agency and get to experience different aspects of being an agent, see where they worked best. Sometimes a TDA was an older and more experienced agent that wanted to be a floater, or they were back in the country temporarily before being sent out on assignment again.

"And, the usual arrangements for his apartment will be made, as well." Morrow assured. The agency had a 'program' in place, where it footed all rent fees or utility bills while the agent was on a long-term assignment, provided they lived alone. If they didn't, then the agency footed half the bill, that way the other person living there (roommate or spouse) wasn't suddenly having to pay all of it on one paycheck when they were usually paying on two paychecks. Of course, the agent in question still received their full pay while they were gone, plus hazard, so they actually came home with a nice healthy bank account. This way, the agent still had somewhere to come home to, provided that they were lucky and came home at all, of course.

Gibbs was still annoyed, but he nodded his approval of the plan. He liked Pacci, and he was actually looking forward to working with him so closely again, it had been a while since he and Tony had worked a case with the other agent. Since Pacci mostly worked cold cases or kept up with liaison's in other countries. Whenever he caught something on one of his cases, though, he usually ended up bringing it to Gibbs attention. Especially if it ended up being a case that Gibbs originally had. He turned to leave.

"And Gibbs?" Morrow called as he put his hand on the door handle. Gibbs turned. "I'll find out what is happening with our boy and keep you informed as much as I can." He said. Gibbs only nodded and left. Briefly, Morrow felt sorry for any agent foolish enough to get in Gibbs way right now. If DiNozzo was a St. Bernard and Chameleon all in one, Gibbs was a bear. One who's cub had just been taken away.

~ADitO~

Three months. That was how long it took for Tony DiNozzo to come home in... mostly one piece.

While Gibbs was not happy about it taking longer than the original estimate, he also understood it, having done quite a few undercover operations himself. The only things Morrow had been able to get out of the ones running the operation (he wouldn't tell Gibbs who they were, in case Gibbs decided to contact them personally and get himself in trouble), was whether Tony was alright or not. He'd been informed the night before that the op was over, and Tony was home now, but would be on desk duty for a while, having refused time off. (He was really glad now, that he'd stopped by Tony's apartment the night Tony went on assignment and cleaned out the kitchen of everything that would have spoiled before Tony came back.)

Walking into the squad room, he was thrilled to see Tony at his desk, grumbling about his computer monitor, keyboard, and chair being out of place, among other things. He hid his smile. When Pacci was temporarily assigned to work with them, he'd let him use Tony's desk while he was gone (it was more practical this way, instead of Chris having to go back and forth between their area and his own desk all the time), and Pacci had promised that he would put everything back before Tony got back. Since Gibbs didn't get word of Tony coming back until the night before, Chris obviously hadn't had a chance to put everything back to how it was.

He hid his happiness, though, along with his rage when he saw the bruises on Tony's face and around his neck, along with the sling his arm was in. He had no doubt that his shirt was hiding even more bruises. Clearly, the op hadn't ended quite as planned.

"You see Ducky, yet?" He asked, coming up behind and to the side.

"No, I just got in, haven't had the chance to." Tony said, not even reacting. Of course Tony had known Gibbs was there the whole time, Tony always knew where Gibbs was.

"Why don't you go do that, Chris should've been in by the time you get back up, and your desk will be back to normal." He suggested.

Tony frowned. "Chris?" He asked, turning around.

Gibbs took a sip of his coffee. "Pacci. He was assigned my SFA while you were gone, to round out the team and add more experience than the TDA and Kate had." Tony 'ahh'd'. "Go see Abby while you're down there." He called behind him while he went to his own desk and Tony took off for the elevator, getting greetings and careful shoulder-slaps on the way. Everyone was happy to see Tony back, the office was quiet when he was gone, and they never quite realized just how much he helped out everywhere until the times when he wasn't there.

Also, Gibbs should be in a better mood now.

When Chris Pacci walked in soon after Tony disappeared downstairs, the first thing he did was start putting everything back the way Tony had it before he left. "You heard?" Gibbs asked simply.

Pacci snorted. "How could I not?" He asked. "Bunch of high-school girls around here. I will say, that whoever it was that put those bruises had better be dead, or at least locked up with the key thrown away." He said, gathering his things to move back to his own desk. He was mildly surprised by how much stuff had migrated over here, he hadn't even realized he'd started to move in like this. Oh, well. He was glad Tony was back, maybe now Gibbs would calm down and stop terrorizing everyone. And he could get back to the slower pace of cold-cases.

He finished putting Tony's desk back together right when Tony returned from downstairs. "Hey, man. How was it with the Bossman?" He asked, clapping Chris on the shoulder.

Chris huffed. "I'm so glad you're back." He muttered quietly.

Tony winced. "That bad?" He questioned. Chris merely gave him a Look and went back to his desk when Kate walked in.

"Tony! You're back!" She greeted, and frowned when she saw the bruises and his arm. "Are you alright?" Gibbs looked up, watching their interaction quietly, thinking back on what he'd observed before Tony left on his assignment.

"Yeah, this is nothing." Tony waved her concern off, and Gibbs could tell that Kate was thrown off by his nonchalance. Gibbs could see why, Clown-act Tony had made a big fuss over a papercut, after all. Gibbs, though, had seen Tony look worse than he did now, and not make a noise of protest. Suddenly, Tony almost lunged for his bag, where he brought out a folded paper. "I almost forgot." He muttered, before bringing the paper over to Gibbs. "My doctor's note." As if he was a kid who didn't want to get in trouble for missing a day of school.

Gibbs scanned it, and nodded when he noted the length of time Tony would be chained to his desk for. Well, at least that would give Tony plenty of time to recenter. His eyes narrowed when he read the summary of Tony's injuries. He made a mental note to speak with the Director about keeping the TDA. Speaking of... where was the kid? He should have been in by now. "Kate, have you seen O'Riley this morning?" He asked. She shook her head before going back to turning on her computer and getting things out for the day. "Hmm. I'll be upstairs. Tony, get settled in."

After speaking with the Director, he made a coffee run, and if he happened to get a box of doughnuts and leave them on the filing cabinet by Tony's desk, and if they happened to be Tony's favorite kind... nobody was stupid enough to call him on it. He wasn't pleased when O'Riley didn't come in until a half-hour after his coffee run, a full hour late for work. He looked up and frowned at the junior agent, not speaking, giving him a chance to come to him with his excuses.

When O'Riley finally noticed he was being stared at, he barely hid his wince. "Sorry, Agent Gibbs, my car wouldn't start this morning, so I had to call for a cab, but the traffic was awful, so they took forever to get there to pick me up..." O'Riley stuttered to a halt, aware that Kate and Gibbs were both watching him. Kate in amusement, and Gibbs in irritation. Tony was watching curiously, he didn't recognize this agent.

Although, if he didn't know any better, he would guess that Gibbs actually looked like he was in a good mood.

"O'Riley. Meet Tony DiNozzo, he's my actual SFA, and in charge when I'm not around. For now, he is on desk duty, for obvious reasons. So, you will stay with my team until he is off desk duty. Understand?" Gibbs said, and didn't wait for the agent to stammer out that yes, he understood. "And O'Riley!" He barked suddenly after sitting back down. The man in question jumped and stammered out a 'yes, Agent Gibbs?' "Next time something happens where you know you will be late? Call ahead!"

O'Riley squeaked and scurried to sit down, where he hurried to turn on his computer and put his badge and gun away. Tony glanced at Gibbs and got up to clap a hand on the TDA's shoulder. "Don't worry too much about it, he's usually in a bad mood in the mornings." He advised before going back to his desk so he could see what paperwork he had to do after being gone for three months.

(Of course, he didn't know that Gibbs mood had been steadily worsening since he left, and that, as far as O'Riley was concerned, Gibbs was downright cheerful right now.)

Pacci would have done the paperwork while he was the temporary SFA, but there was probably some that he hadn't gotten to yet before Tony's return. At any rate, Tony preferred to be at least a week ahead of his paperwork, just in case they got a hot case and didn't have time for paperwork.

Before he could really get started, Chris came back over. "By the way, your paperwork is caught up for the next two weeks. It was pretty slow this past week." He said when Tony glanced at him in surprise.

"Thanks, man."

Kate scoffed quietly. "That won't stay that way long." She muttered. Gibbs cleared his throat and shot her a Look. She grimaced before going back to her work. Although, she had to admit, even she had missed Tony's childishness while he was gone, the place had been very quiet without him.

"Actually, Kate, I'm always at least three weeks ahead on paperwork." Tony shot back dryly. "And that includes correcting yours before passing it on to the Boss." Then he sighed and went back to his computer, cursing the fact that his right arm was currently in a sling, meaning that using the mouse was going to be awkward for a while. He was going to be stuck typing one handed for a while, too. Kate stared at him, not sure what just happened.

Right then, Gibbs cell rang, and a few moments later, he was telling the other two to grab their gear. Out of reflex, Tony reached for his bag and stood up. "Whoa, where do you think your going?" Gibbs quietly asked. Tony blinked up at him and opened his mouth to say 'the elevator', when he remembered that he was on desk duty for the foreseeable future. Slowly, he sat back down.

"I'll be ready to start searches as soon as you can tell me the victims name, Boss." He said, sullenly. He hated desk duty. Well, at least he had doughnuts...

Gibbs quirked a small smile. "And, Tony?" Tony looked up, curious. "Try not to get too bored, alright? I don't want to come back and find... things popping out of desk drawers." He gave a small warning look. "Give it at least a day before that." A bored Tony, was a often-destructive and prank-happy Tony. No matter what kind of 'mask' he was wearing at the time.

Tony's face fell slightly. "I will try to resist, Boss." He noticed, though, that Gibbs only specified having things pop out of drawers when they were opened... he probably shouldn't superglue any keyboards, though, IT was not happy with him last time he did that... Once the team was gone, he sighed and opened up his email, he was expecting there to be a lot of it. While he went through it, other agents came and went, welcoming him home, or asking the occasional question about the op, which he answered as best he could, although his most frequent answer was 'classified'.

~ADitO~

"So, uh... that was Tony DiNozzo, huh?" O'Riley asked Kate while they walked to the truck.

"Yup, that was him. I wouldn't be surprised if he's gone snooping through our desks while we're gone." She said, and was surprised at how fond she almost sounded.

"It's what makes him good at his job." Gibbs answered in front of them. What he didn't say, was that Tony liked to know everything about everyone around him to protect himself. If he knew everything about them, then he couldn't be surprised, and there was less chance of them doing something to hurt him. His partner in Baltimore... Tony didn't snoop. He'd given the other man privacy, and the other man ended up being a dirty cop. He could have pulled Tony down with him if he was caught, it would have ended both of their careers, even if Tony was as clean as they came. He would have been 'guilty by association', since he rode with the man every day and didn't notice anything off. Or, he could have been labeled a Snitch, whether he actually Snitched or not, and nobody would have wanted to ride with him.

"Snooping through his co-workers privacy?" She asked sarcastically.

"Snooping. Finding what he wants. Finding answers to his questions." Gibbs shrugged. Watching his back.

"Where has he been, for the past few months?" All O'Riley had heard was that Tony DiNozzo was a great agent (mostly from Abby and Ducky), and how it was quiet without him around. Honestly, he'd spent the first month thinking the man had died. He'd only recently been transferred to the D.C office from Seattle, after all.

"Undercover assignment, don't know where." Was all Gibbs said to that.

"How can you not know, aren't you the team leader?" O'Riley asked, momentarily forgetting his terror of Gibbs.

Gibbs stopped and turned around staring at him. Kate made a face and kept walking. "I don't always know where he goes when he gets called on assignment. I don't even know who he was working with this time. And it was safer that I not know, for Tony. Because the less people that know things, the less likely it is to be messed up." That, and, he knew for a fact that the Director refused to tell him so he didn't make a few phone calls and get himself in trouble. Other agencies didn't like it when NCIS butted its head in, even if that agency happened to be using an NCIS agent undercover.

Later, at the crime scene, after Kate called Tony with the details of their victims so he could start running searches, and Gibbs was interviewing witnesses, O'Riley went up to her with a question. "Agents Gibbs seems to be in a... good mood, today. Did something happen?" To be honest, the good mood was actually scaring him a little bit here.

She snorted. "Yup. Tony came home, that's what happened. I asked around when he first left, apparently Gibbs turns into a bit of a 'papa bear' with Tony sometimes. According to some of the others, Gibbs practically dragged Tony down to HR, and made him sign up, then they were a two-man team for a year until Gibbs recruited me about four months ago, and I think it's coming up two years of them being together total. The longest anyone apparently lasts with Gibbs is a year. There was one who lasted five, until he transferred citing medical concerns. Apparently he started developing ulcers, frequently."

"What does their time together have to do with his leaving making Agent Gibbs so angry all the time?" O'Riley was really confused. Wasn't the team leader not supposed to have favorites? Couldn't that ruin his objectivity?

Kate shrugged. "I don't know, but the two of them can almost read each other like books." She moved away to get a better angle for her sketch. She stopped then and sighed. "Look, you won't really see it much while you're with us, since he's stuck at his desk, but Tony is a great investigator and agent. Just... don't expect him to take everything seriously. There will probably be a few pranks waiting for us when we get back." O'Riley frowned, and made a mental note to have complaint forms ready.

Nearby, Gibbs frowned. While he was glad she acknowledged her superior was a skilled agent, the rest of her statement...

"Ducky, have anything for me, yet?" He asked, kneeling down beside two of the bodies. Gerald looked up from where he was laying out body bags, and the plastic bags to cover the victims hands with.

"Oh, Jethro. You know I won't have anything for you until after I do a proper autopsy." Ducky admonished, honestly, they went through this every time. One would think that a Marine Sniper would have more patience.

"Yeah, but you can tell me something now, can't you?" Gibbs shot his older friend a charming grin, which earned him a Look.

"Hmm, well, I can tell you that they put up quite the fight." He held up one Marines arm. "See these markings? Defensive patterns, and there looks to be something under their fingernails, I will of course send up samples to Abby." Gibbs sighed and sat back on his heels so he could examine the crime scene. "I can tell you, Jethro, these men were not killed here." Gibbs nodded his agreement while he looked around some more.

"Finish bagging and tagging, Kate. O'Riley, come with me to finish interviewing witnesses." He figured the TDA needed more experience. Pacci, as stand-in SFA had done most of the training for the younger man, but now Gibbs was going to be putting him to the test since Pacci was now back to his usual assignments and Tony was stuck at his desk.

When they finally got back to the Yard and checked in all the evidence they'd bagged, they went to find their desks, only to find a small table with pizzas and drinks set up in front of the plasma, while Tony himself was standing in front of the plasma studying the victims service records and scowling.

"See something?" Gibbs asked, taking a piece of pizza and stuffing it in his mouth while he stood beside his SFA. The other two dropped their things off at their desks and stood beside them to listen in.

Tony made a face and sighed. "It's more what I don't see." He grumbled. "There's no connection between any of our victims as far as the Corp is concerned. I still need to do a more in depth check into their private lives, those searches are running right now and I'm still waiting on their financial records... but they were never assigned to the same squad, never crossed paths in training, never assigned to the same bases. He's stationed in Anacostia, Quantico, Norfolk, here at the Yard... They were never even deployed at the same time, two of them were never even deployed at all. This one, Simmons, he was about to be sent out on his first deployment."

Gibbs frowned. "What about before the Corp?" He asked.

Tony made a noise in the back of his throat and hit a button on the remote. "Simmons and Roberts both have juvie records, nothing major enough to keep them from enlisting and by all accounts they shaped up afterwards, lucky for them, it's just for a few fights and an underage drinking charge... but the others are snow white. All grew up in different states, Roberts is from Alaska, I mean, can't get much more out of the way than that..." He cleared his throat after catching a look from the Boss. "Only Roberts didn't go to college, of those who went, again, nothing in common." Tony sighed before he frowned and went back to the college records again. "Oh, wait... they all played sports in college, but that's about it. They weren't all the same sports, either. One ran both cross-country and track-and-field, there's football, basketball... he was on the rowing team." Tony pointed at the Marine in question.

Gibbs frowned, too. "If they were picked up randomly, and with no real reason..." He left his sentence hanging. It would be much more difficult to find whoever killed them if there wasn't a common denominator between the victims. Something they could look into that might indicate how they were found, which would give them a starting point to start tracing the killer's tracks and finding out who they were.

"Well, I am still waiting for financials, there might be something there we can use, Abby and Ducky might also find something for us to find a starting point with... and there might be some cross-over in their private lives, too. Oh, and I was about to call around to members of their squads and CO's." Tony went back to his desk to check the searches he had running. Gibbs grunted and grabbed more pizza, and a drink before going back to his desk to start on paperwork for the case, and make a few phone calls.

"What are you both waiting for? Get food and get to work." He barked when he noticed the other two on his team were still standing there, staring.

"Tony, send the financials to me when you get them. I'll start calling friends and family in the meantime." Kate said, getting the smallest piece of pizza in the boxes with a small grimace about all the grease, and a bottle of water. Tony whistled softly and pointed at the small cooler beside the table, she opened it and found a take-out container with salad in it. "Thanks, Tony." He grinned in reply and went back to his work. She offered some of the salad to O'Riley when she found that there was enough there for all of them. Then she went around and put plates of salad on Gibbs and Tony's desks with a raised eyebrow. Gibbs just stared at it for a moment, but started eating it, as she knew he would.

If there was one thing she noticed, if it wasn't something he considered 'strange', he would eat it if it was put in front of him. He might not appreciate it, and she might pay for it later during combat training or workouts, but he would eat it.

"Kate, crime scene pictures been uploaded yet?" Tony asked.

"Oh, here they are. Evidence already has the files, too. And the sketches have already been scanned in, too." She pulled up the files on her computer before moving them to the plasma, where they would be bigger and easier to spot something in them.

Tony took one look and grimaced while he shook his head. He didn't say anything, though. Instead, he started examining them for anything off. He couldn't look at background scenery because the bodies had been dumped in an abandoned industrial complex, inside one of the warehouses.

"Timeline?" Gibbs asked several hours later, after they'd all had a chance to make calls and go over what little they had again.

"Ok, Roberts is on liberty right now, but the others were all reported UA this morning, right after we got the call out. The system didn't get fully updated until just a little bit ago. I spoke with some of their buddies, they all say the same thing, which is actually kind of surprising right now, considering how little they have in common. All of our dead Marines, have a tendency to disappear on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights. No matter if they are on duty the next morning or not. Simmons' room-mate reports that when he comes back, very early in the morning, he made sure to stress that bit, he is more often than not covered in bruises." Tony reported. "I'm thinking Fight Club, things got out of hand last night?" He decided to just lay that out there.

"I looked into financials. On Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, there have been some random deposits of upwards of a thousand dollars. Not every one of those days, sometimes they would miss a deposit. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, however, all have withdrawals of several hundred dollars, regardless of if a deposit was made the day before. The only difference is in how much was withdrawn. A big deposit, was usually followed by a big withdrawal, no deposit had a small withdrawal." Kate added in. "An underground fight ring, with cash prize for the winner, and a betting pool for spectators would support that."

Gibbs glared at his desk for a moment, then got up and grabbed his coffee cup before going to the elevator. Tony followed, guessing that he was headed for Autopsy.

"Ducky, have you found anything?" Gibbs asked the moment the door opened.

"Ah, Jethro. Right on time. First, look at all the different colors our Marines are. Some of those bruises are days old, others as fresh as last night. I compared fist sizes, and some of these bruises here," He pointed out a few specific bruises on Simmons' chest. "Match perfectly with the size and shape of Roberts' fist." He looked at them, and wasn't surprised that Jethro and Anthony both looked like they just confirmed a theory.

"They beat each other up." Anthony summed up nicely, not surprised at all.

"Yes, I take it you found something in their personal lives?" Ducky asked.

"Yes, nightlife and financials seem to support the idea of them being involved in some kind of underground fighting ring." Gibbs answered.

"Hm, yes. That would explain the injuries. But not how they ended up on my tables. Look here." He led them over to his X-ray lights and turned the lights on. "See here? Broken collar bone, ribs, punctured lung, which is what killed him by the way... this was no fight gone wrong that killed Simmons, Jethro. And all of them have the same injuries. No, if one of them became this severely injured during one of their fights, then the rest of the night would have been called off, or the others would have taken him to the hospital with some excuse. We might have one man down here, but not five. No, they were all beaten to death. And it was deliberate." Ducky said, moving back to his desk to start writing up reports before he got to finishing the last autopsies.

Gerald had gotten the X-rays done while he started the first one, then he studied them, but now he needed to finish the rest.

In the elevator, Gibbs sighed in frustration. "We need to find out where these fights are, and who else is involved. One of them is our guy." Gibbs muttered under his breath.

Tony hummed. "Well, as for location... that warehouse they were found in is in an abandoned area, right? A spot like that would be perfect to hold a fight club. Maybe not that exact warehouse, since Ducky said that they'd been moved, but that general area. If we search all the other warehouses, one of them will probably show signs of being used recently." He suggested, tilting his head to the side in thought.

"Good idea, DiNozzo. Kate and I will go check it out while you and O'Riley stay here and do some more digging. Call around to other unit CO's and see if they know whether any of their men have the same disappearing act as our victims did." Gibbs instructed. And that was another thing that made Tony so good at his job. He could think like the criminals they were chasing, far more easily than some other cops or agents could. It was partly what made him such a good actor during his undercover assignments.

Tony smiled. "It's good to be home, Boss." He murmured quietly just when the elevator stopped, he made it out the door and back to his desk before Gibbs could say anything or do anything. He was a little hurt when Gibbs said he would take Kate with him, until he forced himself to remember that he was stuck to his desk for the time being, on medical grounds. He was lucky Morrow had let him come back to work at all, and hadn't forced him to take medical leave until he healed. But still, not being out there with Gibbs felt wrong, he was forced to rely on somebody else to have his boss's back, a job that was solely his for a long time.

"Kate, come with me." Gibbs said, fishing his gun out of his desk drawer and grabbing his jacket.

"Where are we going?" She asked, grabbing her own things as she moved. She'd learned quickly, that unless you wanted to be left behind, you better move quick.

"Back to the Industrial area our Marines were found. Come on!" He moved to the elevator with her scrambling behind. She looked confused, but didn't ask, yet.

Tony sighed and turned to O'Riley. "Ok, I need you to call around to Marine bases, talk to CO's, ask if any of their men have the same schedule ours seemed to have. I'm going to go down other trails, just in case it's not a fight club. Once I'm done, I'll join you. Get started." He assigned the TDA his task and started on his own, making sure they had every possibility covered, ruled out, or set aside as 'possible'.

By the time Gibbs and Kate came back from their trip, Tony and the TDA had written up a small list of possible Marines, Navy, and even a few Air Force and Army involved in their possible fight club, and Tony had crossed other possible reasons for their deaths and injuries off the list as well. He'd also sent Balboa's team out to search through the dead Marines apartments or barrack dorms for anything they might have found interesting. He would have gone himself, but... Balboa's team wasn't doing anything, though, and he was more than happy to help out.

"Boss, we have a list of possible underground fighters from all corners of our nations great military," His sarcastic tone told everyone what he thought of this fight club and the servicemen's involvement. "And Balboa's team is going through the dead Marines living spaces. Did you find anything?" He asked.

"Yeah, you were right. We found the warehouse that shows definite signs of hosting a fight club." He considered for a moment. "If they stick to schedule, there won't be a fight tonight. They would be stupid to go back to that warehouse any time in the next few months, let alone tomorrow."

"If they're smart, they would have several locations to go between. If police interest is high on one location, they will go to another until the police's attention is off them. Now that the warehouse has been discovered, they'll probably abandon it all together. Well, assuming they know it's discovered. Did you find anything useful inside?" Tony asked.

"No." Kate said, frustrated. "Nothing but beer bottles, trash, and blood spatters in the main area. We think it's from the fights, a man loses a tooth, gets a bloody nose, broken nose, and all that. Lab techs are there now, gathering what they can for Abby."

"Then they will definitely know that we found the warehouse, if they don't already." Tony concluded.

Gibbs sighed. "Go home, people. Be back at 0800. Tony, we'll stop by your apartment to pick up clothes on the way to my place." Everyone scrambled to collect their gear and get out before Gibbs changed his mind or remembered something he'd meant to have them do. Tony merely stood up and started stuffing things in his bag one handed, slowly.

"I can stay at my place, Boss, you don't have to..." He started, slightly startled. It wouldn't be the first time the Boss dragged him to stay with him while he was hurt, but it also hadn't happened in a while.

Gibbs stopped him with a glare. "You're coming to my house." He said, and that was final. He didn't even want to know how Tony had gotten to work when his right arm wasn't exactly usable for turning the key, using the stick shift on his car, etc. He really, really hoped that Tony had gotten a ride from someone or taken the bus.

Tony sighed and finished packing his bag, grabbed his gun, and followed him to the elevator after shutting his computer down.

"We'll stop by the butchers and get steak on the way." Gibbs decided, and almost smirked when Tony became much more eager to go home with him after that.

"Ah, it's been so long since I had a proper steak..." Tony practically moaned at the thought. "You would not believe how many high-end five star restaurants I've been in the last three months, and not one of them could serve a proper steak." He complained. Honestly, he was pretty sure that Gibbs had forever ruined restaurant steak for him. Gibbs' steaks were thick and tender. The way he cooked them, in a pan over his fireplace and with beer, bourbon, and something else that he refused to share, made it so they melted in your mouth. The steaks at the restaurant's had been... nice, he supposed. They were properly cooked and well-seasoned, but... they were smaller sized, not nearly as thick, and didn't have nearly as much flavor as Tony had come to expect from when Gibbs cooked.

Gibbs made a face. "That kind of mission, huh?" He muttered, and Tony froze.

"I can neither confirm nor deny." He quipped, which he knew full well was a confirmation.

Some missions, the target was high class, liked the finer things in life. Those were the rich snobs who bought and sold police officers at the drop of the hat, the ones who could afford the fancy lawyers capable of getting them out of anything if there was even the tiniest loophole of a hole in the prosecutions case. They were also the ones you had to be the most careful around. Just as they could afford the best lawyers, they could afford to hire the best men. They were also the coldest, as they saw everyone beneath them, and did not hesitate to sacrifice their own men if it meant getting rid of a 'bug'. Oh, somebody else messes with some of their men, and war would be declared to show why that was a bad idea, but they could sacrifice all the men they wanted.

Honestly, both Gibbs and Tony preferred infiltrating the poorer criminal organizations, the ones who ruled the streets by fear, and not money. But that was just their personalities, neither one of them could tolerate the atmosphere of the upper-class.

Now that he was listening for it, Gibbs could hear a slight accent, a slight lilt to Tony's voice. Tony had been using the manners his mother taught him to the fullest for the last three months, and the habit hadn't entirely faded away yet. Before his mother died, he'd had the best of tutors growing up, etiquette, elocution... he learned it all. And they were lessons Tony made a point of not using when around his colleagues and friends. Tony called it his 'commoners accent' as opposed to his 'high-society accent'.

"Well, then, maybe a good steak dinner is just what you need to feel at home again." Gibbs murmured. He did a quick mental inventory on his kitchen. "Hmm... we'll have to stop at the grocery store and get stuff for some baked potatoes, too. I'm out of sour cream, and bacon. I used the last of it this morning." He grimaced. He wasn't about to buy pre-made bacon bits, either. Oh, no. He'd buy some thick cuts of bacon and crumble it up after cooking it. "We better get some kind of green stuff, too, or Ducky won't be pleased with us." They both grimaced at the thought. They were both 'meat and potatoes' guys, they didn't appreciate a lot of what they considered 'rabbit food'.

"Hmm, steaks, sour cream, onion, mushrooms?" Gibbs shrugged, why not. "Ok, mushrooms, bacon, do we need potatoes, too, or do you have them?" Tony asked, running through a list.

"Better get a few, just in case." Gibbs decided.

"I'll go ahead and pick up some beer, then, too. If we think of anything else, we'll have to hope we think about it before we leave the store." He muttered as they reached Gibbs truck. Gibbs chuckled his agreement, pleased that Tony was home.

~ADitO~

A week later, they'd found and disbanded the underground fight ring, the servicemen involved were facing disciplinary charges for it (some were dishonorably discharged over it, others were demoted and had liberties cancelled for the foreseeable future, among other things), and the ones who killed the five Marines in custody.

The five Marines were supposed to throw their fights, but didn't. As a result, those who stood to gain the most from the bets were not pleased. They got a few friends, took the Marines out back, and showed them just how displeased they were. Afterward, they were dumped in another warehouse on the other side of the industrial complex and left to die.

Gibbs was disgusted by the whole affair.

On the other hand, Tony had a doctor's appointment today to check that his arm could come out of the sling, and to make sure his ribs were healing as they should. They weren't broken, but there were a few cracks and bruises on them. When he first got home, the doctors estimated roughly three weeks on desk duty, hopefully (for everybody's sanity) the two weeks Tony had left on desk duty could be taken down to one week or less.

Honestly, Gibbs was surprised Tony lasted the first day before getting bored enough to start pranking everybody. The second day... the three came back from interviews and chasing leads to find all three desks had been pranked, even Gibbs' desk. By the end of the week, there wasn't a single desk in the entire room, not just the MCRT's area, that had not been pranked at least once in some way. And, in true DiNozzo fashion, not one prank crossed the line with the person being pranked. It was all something that everybody could laugh at, even the victim. Well, Gibbs wasn't laughing when his desk was targeted, but he was also Gibbs.

He had a reputation to uphold.

Gibbs had been approached by almost everybody in the building, almost begging him, to do something to get Tony DiNozzo off desk duty as quickly as possible and back out into the field. Everybody may be able to laugh about the pranks, but that didn't mean they enjoyed being the target. He knew for a fact that O'Riley had tried to file multiple complaints against Tony for unprofessional behavior, and... he couldn't even remember the other reasons the TDA had come up with. He was going to be glad when he could finally release the agent back into the TAD pool.

Personally, he was surprised O'Riley had managed to stick around for so long. Most Probationary agents and TDA's assigned to him begged for a transfer within the first week or two. And that was when Tony was there to head off the worst of his attitude. With O'Riley, he'd been in a particularly bad mood because his SFA was gone and he  
had no way of knowing if he was alright or when he was coming back.

Has he ever mentioned that he hated it when Tony was loaned out to other agencies for undercover work?

Well, he did. He hated it a lot.

He'd been pleased to see Kate loosening up a bit over the past week. She'd said a few things to Tony that Tony, fresh from undercover and not being in the mood for keeping up the act, had put her in her place, hard. Gibbs was pleased to see it, it meant he was starting to settle in with her around, but at the same time, how much of it was just mental exhaustion from a long stint undercover?

Tony had also, in the meantime, convinced Gibbs to let him go back to his apartment after the doctors appointment today. Gibbs was reluctant to let him go because of his arm, but at the same time, Tony's life needed to start going back to normal if he was going to settle back into it. Didn't mean he wasn't going to pop in and spend a few nights at Tony's place, have dinner and whatnot, just to make sure his younger friend was really settling in as he should. And he was sure that some of Tony's neighbors would be happy to keep an eye out, Tony was always helping them out when they needed it.

He was relieved when Tony came back from the doctors with a note stating that he was healing well and if everything continued to go well, he would be able to return to field duty in another week.

"He also said I can start taking the sling off, but if it starts to hurt too much, he wants me to put it back on." Tony made a face to show just what he thought of that.

"DiNozzo." Gibbs growled, letting him know that he better do as the doctor ordered, no messing around.

Tony made another face and sighed before going back to his desk, where he practically ripped the sling off and dumped it in the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet behind him, where he had a small collection of slings, braces (wrist, ankle, knee, shoulder), stress balls, ice packs (the chemical activated ones), heat packs, etc. Except for the ice and heat packs, everything in that drawer was given to either him or Gibbs at some point in the past two years of them working together. Once they no longer needed it right then, it generally got thrown in there until something happened to aggravate an old injury or they did something and didn't feel like going to the hospital for it. Ducky usually caught them, but he was good about taking a look at it himself instead of forcing them on the hospital staff.

He paused a moment and pulled out a stress ball. It would help restrengthen the muscles in his arm. Maybe not the right ones, but, hey. That was what workouts were for. He was going to hit the gym later on and start his own PT regimen. He was a PE major, that included sports medicine and PT, so he knew how to write up and follow a PT plan.

~ADitO~

The next morning, Gibbs was thrilled when he pulled up at Tony's apartment building to give him a ride into work, and he wasn't wearing a suit.


	5. Undercovers

"Hey, Tony?" McGee suddenly asked while he was looking through an old case file. He'd noted pretty early on that it involved an undercover operation and Tony was listed as the undercover. Thinking back, he realized that whenever their team needed something undercover done, Tony always seemed to be the one doing it. Unless they needed a woman, of course, then they either got Ziva to do it, or asked another agent. And then there were the times when he would disappear for weeks to months on end and Gibbs never said anything except he was taking care of 'business'.

"Yeah, Probie?" Tony asked absently, he scowled as he started writing the same thing on five different forms. Why did they need these many forms for one thing? Honestly, field agents had better things to do than a mountain of paperwork.

"How many undercover persona's have you had, and what were your favorites?" He asked bluntly. Tony stopped and blinked for a moment before turning to look at him curiously.

"What brought this on?" He asked. He glanced over at Gibbs and Ziva, only to see that they were looking over now, too.

"This case involves you going undercover." He held up the file he was reading. "And you go undercover or disappear on 'business' a lot, so..." He shrugged. Tony gave him a strange look, one that said he was trying to solve a puzzle, and took the case file from him.

"Ah ha." He laughed once he saw the picture of the main target. "This one. Oh, now this one was interesting. I never did quite figure out what was going on with that guy..." He muttered, and handed the file off to Gibbs when he got up and held out his hand. Gibbs merely smirked in amusement.

"Yeah, that guy was... something else alright." He said.

Tony settled back into his chair with a sigh and looked thoughtful for a few minutes. "Well... a lot of the undercovers I've done are actually still classified. I can probably get away with telling you what personas I've played, but nothing beyond that." He warned. Tim nodded his understanding. "I think you know about most of the times I've gone undercover with this team since you've been here, Probie. I think the first undercover I did with you around was when Vos killed Pacci." Gibbs nodded his agreement, that sounded right to him. 

Tony looked thoughtful again. "With the team, I've been an arms dealer, drug dealer, smuggler... now that was interesting. Fellow escaped convict, disgruntled boyfriend... I've had to go in somewhere as a Petty Officer and every variant of that rank and title, I've been a Captain, lieutenant, come to think of it... I've been almost every Marine rank under the sun, and almost every Naval rank possible as well... well, I haven't gone in as an Admiral or anything, that would be a little obvious if nobody had ever heard of me before." He said with an eyeroll. "I was an Admiral's aide a few times, though. Do not recommend that as a career path..." He made a face. Not with that particular Admiral, anyway.

"What about outside the team?" Tim asked.

Tony pursed his lips as though trying to decide what to tell them. "Outside the team... I've worked undercover as a Navy SEAL, one of my covers was as a Gunnery Sergeant assigned to a unit in Iraq, I've been in a Marine Sniper unit, I've gone in as a Naval Fighter pilot a few times, those ones are always fun. I love flying those babies..." He leaned back in his chair, daydreaming for a moment.

"Wait, you know how to fly a plane? And a fighter jet?" Tim asked, surprised.

"And a chopper. I could fly commercial if I wanted to. If they need it for an undercover operation, they put me through the appropriate training to better fit the role. Having an undercover who is able to fly a fighter actually benefits NCIS because if for some reason they need a pilot." He held up his hands in a 'what can you do' gesture.

He went back to his recitation. "Whenever I get loaned out to other agencies, I usually end up being an arms dealer, or hired muscle of some kind. Or I'm in as the middle man for some sting operation. I've infiltrated Mafia groups, the Mob, Cartels, you name it, I've probably infiltrated it. I've even been in a few terrorist cells... the freedom fighter groups I've gotten in with always make life interesting."

"Wow." Tim was amazed. "You've, huh... gotten around then." It was a simple statement.

Tony snorted. "Yeah... you could say that. For future reference, if I end up going out on 'business', and it takes longer than a few weeks, you can be sure that I'm probably getting special training for the persona. Like when I go in as a SEAL, I gotta train a bit so that I can make the bare minimum of what a SEAL is required to do to be considered 'mission ready'. When I was training for my first op as a pilot, they had me in flight school for a few months while still working normal cases before they even told me why I was in flight school." He explained.

Gibbs snorted. "They didn't even know if the op was going to go forward. The guys we were after might have slipped up and gotten caught before the op was able to be put in play. But, they figured that it might come in handy if they needed an agent able to fly a fighter in the future. And, Tony was enjoying himself." They'd (the bosses) argued many times that it would be easier to pull an already established pilot in and train him to work undercover, but he knew that they were never going to get an undercover as good as Tony.

"A good undercover agent has a wide variety of skills, Probie. It's not all just talking, acting a certain way, or trying to read the situation right so you don't accidentally give yourself up. You gotta know stuff. You need to know what your talking about, and be able to physically demonstrate if need be. I've gone in as an IT tech more than a few times, and a few times as a hacker. I'm not nearly as dumb with computers as I act sometimes. If I couldn't do anything with them, I wouldn't be able to always get the intel I need." He shrugged. 

Ziva nodded. "I am trained in many different areas as well. Piloting is one, languages, computers, all needed when infiltrating or assassinating." She said in agreement. 

"Eh, I actually managed to get it stipulated in my contract with NCIS, no assassinations for me." Tony said, shaking his head. He had no interest in that side of... things. He knew that they happened within NCIS, he knew that Gibbs himself had been assigned a few marks back in the day to take out. But he was a cop. And that just... rubbed him the wrong way, even if he knew that sometimes... well sometimes arresting them just wasn't going to be enough.

"How many languages do you know, Tony?" Ziva asked in curiosity. She knew he spoke Spanish and some Italian, but he was right. To be a good undercover agent, he would need to have many different skill sets, and he probably kept them hidden until they were needed.

"Uh... five or six? Not including English." He said. "Italian, Spanish, Arabic- I'm not as fluent in that one, Mandarin, German, Hebrew." He threw her a smirk, and her eyes widened in surprise before narrowing dangerously, but with a playful glint. "And I'm actually working on a few Middle Eastern dialects just because." He shrugged. He wasn't going to tell them that learning languages was made easier with the language feature that most movies had, along with subtitles. Of course, the subtitles weren't always accurate, and sometimes they spoke too fast for his untrained ears to pick up what they were saying, but it helped get how the language was supposed to sound in his head.

Especially when he was learning Mandarin. 

Tim stared at him in shock and awe before he shook himself. "What would you say your favorite undercover assignment so far has been?" He asked again.

"Oh, the ones where I get to fly the fighters, definitely. I've had two of those, oddly enough, but I loved it." And... Tony was off in dreamland. Wow, he must really love flying.

Gibbs smiled slightly at the sight. Oh, yes. Fighting to keep DiNozzo in flight school at the time was worth it. Like he said, Tony had been enjoying himself. Whether the op actually went through or not, that made it worth it in his eyes.

"Ziva, I'm assuming you can't talk about any undercover assignments you've been part of?" Tim asked the Mossad assassin. 

She shook her head. "If I were to tell you about any of them, I would have to kill you." She actually, almost sounded apologetic there. 

"Boss?" He asked. 

Gibbs tilted his head. "I've been an IT guy a few times." He chuckled at their disbelieving stares, and shrugged. "I knew enough about what I was doing to do it. And I don't do much undercover work anymore, if ever. If you want some good undercover stories, talk to Ducky. Now he has stories he could tell." Although, most of Ducky's stories were still classified, so it was a trick to getting him to stop before he revealed too much. 

"Ducky?" Tim asked.

Gibbs nodded seriously. "He wasn't always a ME. No, he used to be a field operative for M16. Which is how we met, actually. That's one story, you will never know." He looked around in warning. 

They all protested, eventually gave in and agreed not to ask, but they all resolved to find out the story someday. Ducky would just need to keep their knowledge of such a promising story a secret. 

"Hey, Boss, remember that time when..." The paperwork was forgotten on the desks behind them as they had all rolled their chairs to sit in a circle in the middle of their area.

Gibbs and Tony swapped and shared stories of some of their more interesting undercover assignments, without giving out any details that might be deemed classified, of course. Ziva shared what little she felt she might be able to get away with, and nobody noticed when it got dark out and everybody else started going home for the night.


	6. Phones

McGee watched in horror as Gibbs growled and dunked his phone into his mostly full coffee mug. The loud, constant, and annoying ringing stopped immediately.

Tony didn't react, he merely sighed and hit a button on his keyboard that started the printer behind him and reached into the filing cabinet behind him to pull out one of the many boxes containing replacement phones for Gibbs. "Third phone today." He grumbled.

"Why?" McGee asked nervously. He'd never seen Gibbs destroy a phone, he only knew there were replacements at all because of the time Gibbs phone overheated during that time when the AC wasn't working and it was really hot out.

"It's the anniversary of one of his divorces. Don't know which one, but she keeps calling him. She does this every year. Last year, I had to get her number on the 'reject' list through NCIS, so she can't call his work phone anymore." Tony explained quietly while he pulled a small case out of his desk and opened it to reveal SIM cards. He quickly and efficiently traded out the SIM card from the new phone for one of the ones in the case and turned it on.

Almost immediately, it started to ring again, causing Gibbs to snap his head up with a glare. Tony took one look at the caller ID and grimaced before hanging up the call.

McGee winced when he saw the look that the poor phone was getting, and grabbed it from Tony before he could give it to Gibbs. He assumed the number that Tony winced at was hers, so he quickly blocked it.

"There. That number is blocked now. It can't come through anymore." He said in satisfaction, handing the phone to Gibbs, who took it warily and watched it for a few minutes in suspicion, as if it might attack him. When it didn't ring again, he relaxed and went back to what he was doing before.

"Where did those SIM cards come from, and why did that one work? Those don't come pre-programmed." He asked Tony. The cell and service provider had to program the phone with the right information, otherwise it wasn't going to actually make or receive calls.

"Hm?" Tony looked up from the form he was looking over and filling out. "Oh, Abby cloned his SIM card years ago, after the first time he destroyed one. We went to switch out the old one into a new phone, and it was cracked. She spent hours trying to recover any of his data off of it, I think she only got his phones basic information off of it. We had to go to his service provider and... it was a mess. Then, we had to spend hours talking Gibbs through how to program his speed dial, he has all the other numbers memorized. It's a good thing she cloned them, because then he started dunking them in coffee or paint thinner if he was really annoyed." Tony explained.

"Why didn't you just block the number before today?" Tim decided not to even go there.

"We did." Tony grimaced. "Five SIM cards ago." He filled in a few more blanks on the form and got up to give it to Gibbs to sign.

"What's this?" He demanded after scanning it over.

"New form to fill out from the guys down in Supply in cahoots with the guys in accounting. They're tired of constantly having to replace your phone. So, from now on, every phone you destroy, half of it's market value with be deducted from your salary." He explained bluntly. "And if it continues to be a problem, then that will change to them charging you the full market price."

"When?" Gibbs asked warily. He'd never heard of this before.

"I was reading the email and printing out the new forms as your old phone took a swim." Tony said bluntly. "Which means, as you were not informed yet, that phone does not count. However, every phone you destroy from now on, means more paperwork for me." He leaned over Gibbs desk threateningly.

Gibbs blinked and resisted the urge to swallow nervously. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." Tony nodded slowly. His eyes promised to make Gibbs work life miserable if Gibbs created more unnecessary paperwork for him.

Neither of them even considered just not filling out the new forms. There were cameras in the room, pointed right at their area. Supply and accounting would both know when they got requisitions for new phones for Gibbs, but none of the new forms to accompany it.

Gibbs nodded his understanding while Tony fished the old phone out of the coffee mug.

"You do that, while I take this down to Abby. Maybe she can salvage something." Tony muttered, eyeing the paperwork stack in warning. He headed for the elevator while Kate, Tim, and Gibbs watched. Two in shock and awe, the other thoughtful. 

Gibbs head suddenly snapped around and he barked. "Anticipation, McGee!" 

"Yes, Boss!" McGee jumped and said, almost automatically. 

Gibbs snorted and looked down at the paperwork Tony had handed him and scowled. He briefly contemplated going for a coffee run, but knew that if this wasn't done or being done before Tony came back, he was going to be swamped with paperwork, unwanted phone calls, unwanted emails, etc. Just like the time he kept getting phone calls from people inquiring about the car he was selling a while back. He didn't even own that kind of car, he knew what was going on, though. 

The day before those phone calls started, he'd made the mistake of getting on Tony DiNozzo's bad side. 

What did he do? 

He punished Tony for something he'd thought Tony had done, so Tony set up an ad on eBay and in the newspaper for a car for sale, and put Gibbs contact info down as the owner. 

After everything with Jeffrey White was done, he'd gone to Tony's apartment, pizza and beer in hand, to grovel, and find out the real story behind the event that he punished Tony for. 

Turned out, Tony had assigned Kate to cleaning out and restocking the truck as punishment for back-talk and consistently not getting her reports done on time, or filled out correctly. He left her alone to do that while he went to fill out a disciplinary action report, just to dangle in front of her as incentive to straighten her act up. 

(In keeping with Tony's personality and style, Gibbs didn't know about any of this. Tony preferred dealing with discipline on the team himself, he'd only bring it to Gibbs attention if nothing he said or did worked and it was getting out of hand.)

However, instead of doing as she was told, Kate went to hang out with Abby, telling her that Tony was being unfair and trying to throw his 'non-existent' weight around. Needless to say, the truck didn't get cleaned, or restocked like it was supposed to be that week. Also, Abby didn't speak with Tony for a week outside of work-related interactions, until she was reamed out by Gibbs. 

So, when they got called out to a crime scene, and the truck was still full of trash, and the bins and cabinets were still empty or half-empty... Gibbs demanded to know who was supposed to clean it out last to the nearest person, who happened to be Kate. She told him she thought it was Tony's job to do it last, and he was so angry about it not getting done that he didn't even stop and think about what was wrong with that statement. (Tony was the Senior Field Agent. Cleaning and stocking the truck wasn't his job, it was Kate and Tim's jobs as the junior and probationary agents).

So, he forced Tony to clean it and stock it while the rest of them went out to eat, after one of the biggest head slaps he'd ever delivered, accompanied by a lecture about doing his job. Tony was so confused about what he was supposed to have done, and Gibbs didn't even let him get a word in to ask what he'd done. He didn't learn what he was supposed to have done until later, when Kate taunted him about it. 

Needless to say, that disciplinary action report he was going to File 13, didn't get File 13'd. And he wrote her up additionally for insubordination and not following orders. 

So, as soon as Tony was done with the truck, he'd gone straight to his computer and taken those ads out. Two days later, they finally got permission for their plan for Jeffrey White to go ahead, and they scrambled into place, which is when the phone calls started coming in with people asking about a non-existent car for sale. 

After Gibbs finally learned what happened, and why the truck wasn't cleaned and restocked, he apologized (it was allowed when it was important and an apology was actually warranted. It was the apologizing for nothing that really got to him) and the next day Kate was yelled at for not following orders and then for lying to Gibbs about it. She was suspended for two weeks, during her suspension, she was to attend FLETC classes about writing up proper reports and the chain of command. This, of course,   
set Abby off and she stormed up to Tony's desk to yell at him for being so childish and petty. 

Needless to say, Gibbs was not happy with her, and made sure she knew the truth of what really happened. 

She was denied Caf-pow for a month, Gibbs even made sure to call in at all the places near the Yard that sold it to make sure they knew not to sell to her, or allow any NCIS agent or anybody else associated with NCIS to buy it for her (even though Gibbs was the only one to bring her any). They were under instructions to ask who it was for. Naturally, Gibbs couldn't stop her from drinking it at her apartment or getting it somewhere else away from the yard, but security was also instructed not to allow her to bring any in with her. 

Tony didn't talk to her for a month, not until she apologized and was sincere. 

So, no. He didn't want to get on Tony's bad side. Not again. It just wasn't worth it.

He sighed. He was going to have to find some other way of curbing his temper or solving his problems that didn't involve destroying his phone. For one, he didn't want to get it taken out of his salary, not that he couldn't afford it, and for another? He didn't want to force unnecessary paperwork on his SFA. 

Last time somebody tried to do that... well, lets just say that there was a reason his team actually had less paperwork to do compared to the other investigative teams in NCIS. But that was a story for the bean-counters and bureaucrats to tell.


	7. The Picture

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tag to S2E19, 'Conspiracy Theory'

Gibbs was waiting for Kate when she got off the elevator.

She slowed down and watched him warily, having no idea what he would have to say after last night, when her and Tony accidentally sent him those two pictures that they were essentially blackmailing each other with.

"My office." He said simply and walked towards the elevator.

She was surprised to find Abby already waiting beside it when she turned around to go back to it. She'd just gotten off it, when did Abby get there?

Gibbs stopped the elevator after a few seconds, and turned to the girls. "Now, one of you want to tell me what that picture was about that I got last night? The one making it seem like Tony is gay?" He felt the need to clarify which one so that the two didn't try to play stupid and pin it all on Tony for some reason.

"It was nothing, Gibbs, just some harmless payback." Abby said, confused. "Tony was trying to blackmail Kate with some picture of her back in college, she wanted something to make him stop." She knew that it was probably going a little far, but there was no harm in it. She would apologize to Tony later if he brought it up.

"Harmless?" Gibbs repeated in disbelief. Kate nodded her agreement with Abby's statement. "This is a law enforcement agency that deals primarily with military personnel. What do you think would have happened to Tony if that picture had gotten out, or if somebody had seen it while on yours or Tony's computers?"

Neither girl answered, but they had the feeling that from Gibbs tone that it would not have been good.

"None of the military we work with, or interview will work with him, or want to speak with him. Agents could refuse to work with him, or refuse to back him up in the field. That rumor that you two could have started would have been the end of his career and possibly his life!"

"Come on, Gibbs, it wouldn't-" Kate tried to brush it off, but he spoke over her.

"You know, Tony doesn't talk about his past much, but sometimes... his partner in Peoria, rode with him for almost a year. Somebody started a rumor that he was gay. It wasn't true, his girlfriend actually left him when she happened to overhear the rumor. But everybody believed it, everybody but Tony. The teasing, the heckling, the downright bullying... one day, Tony was in court, his partner got a call out. Back-up was ten minutes late in arriving, even though dispatch could put the closest cop car less than three minutes away. Their excuse was that they were having engine trouble. Guess what? Tony didn't buy that, so he did some poking around. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the car. His partner is still in a coma to this day, after being beaten half to death and shot three times, and the men who put him there got away." He fixed the two with a look.

"You know, most of the civilian population takes a very dim view to this sort of thing, but at least civilians aren't likely to beat each other up over it, at least civilians don't have to be able to trust those around you 110% with your life. Military, law enforcement, there is no tolerance for that kind of thing here. To accuse or even threaten to start those kind of rumors, true or not, is a very serious thing. I want a very public apology from both of you, and make it very clear just what it is you are apologizing for, just don't say what it was the picture showed." He fixed them both with a look.

"And Abby, I expect that picture to be completely erased, I don't want there to be the slightest chance that somebody will stumble on it or come across it anywhere." He instructed her, and she nodded slowly.

She was ashamed of herself, she'd worked in forensics long enough to know everything that Gibbs was talking about was completely true. Law enforcement and military did tend to be extremely harsh or even cruel at times to fellow law enforcement and military personnel. In fact, she was pretty sure Tony's former partner wouldn't be the first story out there about failed back-up.

She knew full well that if that picture had gotten out, Tony's reputation and career would have been in ruins.

"I'm really sorry, Gibbs. I didn't think." She said, and looked down.

Kate didn't say anything. She honestly didn't see what the big deal was, but she was getting the idea that she'd made a mistake in getting Abby's help with that picture. Either way, she felt like Gibbs was blowing this out of proportion.

It was just a picture.

Wasn't it?

Gibbs narrowed his eyes at her, but said nothing while he made plans to make her see his point.

~ADitO~

Two weeks later, Kate overheard two other agents discussing the picture they'd found on the computer.

They were discussing Tony, and not in a favorable light. Some of their comments were along the lines of how DiNozzo couldn't be trusted to watch their backs as the 'little fairy' that he apparently was. There was mention of how if he couldn't be trusted to watch them, then they shouldn't need to watch him.

They were laughing and joking around about it.

Listening to her comments, she understood just why Gibbs was so angry about that picture.

She'd seen those two agents talking to Tony, she knew for a fact that they were friendly with him in the past. To now hear them talking so bad about him because of one little fact that they'd just learned, even one that wasn't real, despite all the years they'd known him...

She went to speak to Gibbs and apologize profusely, and then she went and found Tony to make a much more sincere apology than the one she'd initially made.

Gibbs watched her leave and smiled to himself. Finding Miller and O'Neil, he grinned. "Good job, you two. Get a few drinks on me." He passed them a twenty.

The two had been informed of what Kate and Abby had done with that picture, and had been told that Kate wasn't taking it very seriously. They were former Navy, then they joined the police before going over to the 'dark side' and joining NCIS. They knew full well the attitude law enforcement and military could have, they'd seen what happened when an officer (law or military) was outed, or suspected.

They didn't want that to happen to Tony.


	8. Family Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Phone calls_

Tony pursed his lips and watched Gibbs.

He knew that his boss didn't have any plans this year for Thanksgiving, and he usually managed to avoid going to Ducky's house with the rest of them. But this year, he was determined that the Boss didn't have any escape.

He was going to spend Thanksgiving outside of his basement whether he liked it or not.

~ADitO~

_"Hello? It's Gibbs."_ Tony heard over the phone, and grinned at the similarities.

"Hey, Jack. It's Tony." He greeted.

_"Tony! It's been a while."_ Jackson Gibbs greeted his son's second in command.

"Yeah, it has." Tony laughed. "Listen, I was wondering what you were doing for Thanksgiving." He got to the point quickly.

_"Well, I wasn't really planning anything... There's usually a potluck in the Townhall for the community, and a Thanksgiving Bingo tournament, but... Why, did you have something in mind?"_ He asked knowingly.

"Well... It's been a while since I was able to get the boss to spend a holiday with any of us, and it's been a while since we've seen you. I figured we could all spend the holidays together." He explained. "I was going to let it be a surprise, though. We've just got to get him to join us."

Jack chuckled sadly, well aware of how closed off his son had become since Shannon and Kelly died. _"I'm sure if anybody can get him out of his basement this year, it's you."_ He assured his son's second-hand. "I will be there." He said, already making plans to close up the store that day, he could have one of the local kids mind it for the days leading up to and after Thanksgiving that he was gone, he wouldn't mind spending a few days with his boy and his team.

"Thanks, Jack. I can pick you up from the train station, or airport?" Tony suggested.

_"Hm... let me get the plane ticket and I'll let you know."_ Jack decided after a moment, and would not hear of Tony paying for it himself.

"And we aren't on call this year, so unless we get a big case the day before we get off, we're good to go." Tony reported, knowing that they probably would. But he would do everything he could to wrap it up in time for Thanksgiving dinner. "Call me when you have arrangements made, I'll come get you." He said, and said good-bye before hanging up.

He grinned then, and called Ducky, who was hosting Thanksgiving Dinner for their team as always, being the one with the biggest house (well, the only one with a house really aside from Gibbs, who would never agree to host something like this). "Hey, Ducky! Listen, you wouldn't mind an extra at Thanksgiving, would..."

Ducky cut him off in his excitement, eager to hear who Tony was bringing, and hoping this meant Tony had finally found somebody to settle down with. _"Of course I wouldn't mind, dear boy. Who is the new guest?"_

Tony grinned, he knew he could count on Ducky. "Jackson Gibbs. I didn't want him to spend the holiday alone, and it's been a while since we've seen him." He explained. "And yes, I will get Gibbs there." He promised.

Ducky was a little disappointed that it wasn't a significant other, but couldn't deny the desire to see Jackson again. It had been a while since they'd spoken. _"Oh, that's wonderful."_ He said, pleased. _"Yes, perhaps I will work on Jethro as well..."_ He muttered, knowing how stubborn the retired Marine was.

Tony laughed. "With both of us, how can he say no?" He asked, only partially joking.

_"Quite."_ Ducky said, and Tony could hear the grin in his voice.

"Oh, yeah! And Jack is supposed to be a surprise." Tony remembered before he went to hang up after a few more minutes of small talk. In other words, he was not to tell anybody.

Abby wouldn't be able to keep it secret, she'd be too excited to see Jack again, and the moments Gibbs suspected Jimmy knew something he'd be on the assistant like a shark smelling blood. McGee and Ziva could be trusted to keep it quiet from Gibbs, but the moment Abby suspected McGee was hiding something she'd be all over it, and he couldn't keep anything from her, which would lead to her spilling it to Gibbs. And while Ziva could keep a secret, if he told her McGee might suspect something and go snooping.

No... this was certainly a case where Rule Four applied.

"Hey, you haven't said yet, what do you want me in charge of bringing? Besides Jack." He thought to ask before Ducky could answer.

Ducky chuckled. _"Not to worry, Anthony, mum's the word. And let's see... I already have the turkey, and I'm making my mother's stuffing... I've already asked Ziva to bring the wine, and she has volunteered to make some Israeli desserts for us... Abby will be bringing the vegetables, I believe I can put Gibbs in charge of bringing dinner rolls. I will handle the mashed potatoes... ah, why don't you make some of your lovely casseroles? You can decide just what to make that is appropriate for the season."_ Ducky decided. Abby and Ziva had come to him, wanting to know what to bring to dinner almost the moment he told them he was hosting this year. He hadn't been able to the year before because he had his mother for the weekend.

He'd tried to tell them not to, that he was the host, he would handle the food, but neither woman would hear of it. They said it was a team dinner, therefore the team would provide dinner for each other.

He regretted that Timothy couldn't be here, but he was going to be with his family for the holidays.

Tony chuckled. "I will get on that." He promised, mind already racing with ideas. "See you tomorrow, Ducky." He waited for Ducky's own good-bye, and hung up.

He grinned and started making a shopping list for making his casseroles. He had a good feeling about this year.

~ADitO~

Tony leaned up against a barricade, facing the gate exits, waiting for Jack. He was still planning how he was going to get Gibbs to Ducky's house if he didn't go there willingly, despite him and Ducky working on him for the last several days. Ducky had already asked Gibbs to stop at a bakery on his way over for the required dinner rolls, so he was sure that Gibbs would be there if only so Ducky's dinner wasn't shorted of anything, but one could never be sure with Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

"Tony!" He heard, and looked up, a large grin splitting his face.

"Jack! It's good to see you again." He let the older man give him a warm hug, and then hold him out to inspect him.

"You need to eat more." Jack scolded lightly, but didn't press the matter. He knew what their hours could be like, which often meant not getting to eat regularly, or very healthily.

Tony grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, I know, I try, but..." He shrugged helplessly.

"I know, I know. It gets hard with your job." He shook his head. "So, how is it coming with Leroy?" He asked, not bothering to object when Tony snatched his suitcase out of his hands. He was planning on staying for a few days, so he'd packed accordingly. He'd originally wanted to get a hotel room, but Tony rejected the idea, Ducky had offered to house him instead. He had the room for it, and he wouldn't mind the company. It was much better then Tony's original plan of sleeping on his couch while Jack took his bed.

"I think we're wearing him down." Tony grinned.

Jack laughed. "Good. If anybody can, it's you."

Tony's grin widened. "Come on, Ducky's looking forward to seeing you again." He put Jack's bag in the back seat of his car and held the door open for the older gentlemen, before happily jogging around to get in so they could drive off.

~ADitO~

Well, they almost worked through the holiday, like Tony feared, but they managed to solve the case in time. The girl was safe, the frequency code they'd been trying to blackmail her into giving them was kept out of the wrong hands, and the killer had been found.

And just in time for Thanksgiving dinner, even if Ducky had needed her help to get the turkey ready in time.

Now all they had to do was wait for everybody to arrive so they could eat.

"Jack, do you have the- thank you." Tony grinned and wandered back out of the kitchen, carving knife for the amazing turkey in hand.

"Ducky?" He heard Ziva call, and grinned.

"He's upstairs, just take it all through to the kitchen!" He called back and finished what he was doing before he went to help her.

"Jack! Good to see you again!" She greeted, pleased to see the older Gibbs, and surprised. "I did not know you were coming." She said, pulling containers out of the basket she was carrying. Tony came in carrying the other basket and the wine, having gone to her car to see if there was anything else she hadn't been able to carry on her first trip. "Thank you, Tony." She smiled before giving Jack a hug once both their hands were free.

"Tony wanted me to be a surprise for my boy." Jack grinned.

She turned to Tony. "And you did not tell me?" She asked, eyes glinting, in mischief or danger Tony didn't know.

"Rule number four, Zi-va." He grinned cheekily. "Ducky is the only one I told."

"Ah, Ziva. Good to see you." Ducky chose that moment to come in. He had been upstairs to finish getting ready. "Yes, I was delighted to host Jackson for Thanksgiving this year." He grinned around, pleased. "Oh, dear. You were busy, weren't you?" He asked, eyeing the different desserts Ziva had brought along.

"Yes... well. I do not get much opportunity to share things from home like this." Ziva refused to be embarrassed about the fact that she probably over-did it on the dessert.

"You could always bring it into the office, leave it in the break room or put it on a filing cabinet in our area." Tony shrugged, poking around curiously at what she'd made.

Ducky chuckled. "Not to worry, I'm sure that between this bunch, it will all be eaten somehow." He started pulling them out of containers and putting things on plates and covering it so it didn't dry out or in the fridge as needed, with Ziva's help. 

"I'm here!" Abby called from the door. Ducky had already told everyone to just come on in when they arrived, as he would most likely be busy putting the finishing touches on dinner, these people were his family, anyway, and it was his opinion that family didn't need to stand outside and ring a doorbell or knock. That was what strangers or acquaintances did.

"In here!" Tony called. "You need a hand?" 

"No, I got it." She wandered in, and lit up. "Jack!" She squealed, and barely took the time to empty her arms before engulfing the older Gibbs in a giant hug. "I didn't know you were coming!" 

He chuckled, returning the hug. "I was a surprise." He grinned, pleased with his warm reception. He'd been a little worried to be a 'gate crasher', but it was more then clear that they were happy to have him here. 

She turned and slapped Tony on the arm. "Why didn't you tell me?" She demanded, pouting a little. 

He shrugged, refusing to feel bad. "Rule four, Abs. Besides, that would have ruined the surprise." He kissed her cheek and started carrying the green-beans, corn, and mashed potato to the dining room after Ducky took them out of the insulated carrying container Abby used so they didn't get cold on the drive over. 

"Alright, that's just the Boss, with the dinner rolls, everything else is ready." He glanced at the door, hoping Gibbs actually came. He and Ducky hadn't really left the lonely Marine much choice but to come, but you never knew with that man. 

"Hmm. Well, I don't want to start without him... but I don't want our dinner to get cold either." Ducky decided, biting his lip. And he didn't, the meal looked wonderful, and it would be a true shame for it to get cold. He didn't know about anybody else, but when his food was supposed to be hot, he preferred to eat it while hot. 

"Sorry, I'm late!" Gibbs called, striding in just as they were starting to sit down. He froze and blinked at the sight of his dad. "Dad? What..." He started to ask, feeling the bag from the bakery be pulled out of his hands by an insistent and grinning Ducky, and then his eyes drifted from his father, who he had not expected to see here, to Tony. Tony was grinning like a loon, and Gibbs immediately knew he'd been set up. He narrowed his eyes at his Senior Agent, but stepped forward to accept his father's brief hug anyway. "I wasn't expecting you." He finally admitted, and let his dad guide him to a chair. 

"Thanksgiving is a day for family." His father said firmly, sitting beside him. 

"We did not know he would be here, either. But it was a wonderful surprise." Ziva admitted, and squeezed Jack's shoulder as she passed him on her way to her own seat after tossing the bag the bread came from in the kitchen for now. 

"Where are you staying, then?" Gibbs finally asked, concerned his father was putting up with some hotel. He didn't know when this had been set up, but he knew it was difficult to find a decent hotel for a decent price during holiday seasons unless you booked it far in advance. 

"Ducky was kind enough to offer me a room, here." Jack nodded towards Ducky, who inclined his head and handed Gibbs the carving knife. 

"Thanks, Duck." He said, gratefully. 

"Oh, it's no trouble at all, he's a delightful house-guest. It's just a pity Timothy and James couldn't be here, as well. Ah, well, as Jackson said, Thanksgiving is a time for family, I'm sure they are having a good time with theirs." He admitted. He would have loved to have his entire family under his roof tonight, but they had families of their own outside work, unlike those that were here tonight with him. 

Once the turkey had been carved and handed around, he raised his glass. "To family, and may we remember to always be grateful for what we have." He smiled around at the table, and dug into the wonderful meal with his family around him.

**Author's Note:**

> I've read some stories where the two of them were outright fired or convicted because something did happen to Tony. In this, they got off fairly lightly because nothing did happen. They more or less just got a slap on the wrist as a warning, although they were on their last leg. If something like that happened again, then there wouldn't have been any leniency.  
> *I took this idea from those episodes where Jenny was away at a conference and Cynthia was constantly having to chase him down to get him to finish the paperwork for the day. Every time she was gone, Gibbs seemed to be the one in charge and making sure the agency didn't crash and burn. Also, he leads a lot of operations from MTAC. Also, there has to be some reason why Gibbs can get away with pulling off so much crap all the time. Some of the stuff he gets away with should result in some serious consequences, and nobody seems to care at all.


End file.
